Choices
by filesfreak4life
Summary: AU kind of story... Lucas and Peyton have to make some hard decisions when something comes up early in their relationship, keeping it a secret from everyone they know. Leyton LOVE!
1. Not Being Selfish

"I'm pregnant." She says, out of the blue one day as he works on an English assignment and she draws on her bed. She waits a few silent minutes while they stare at each other before finally breaking the silence, "Lucas, are you going to say anything?"

"How? I mean we always…"

"I know that, but I am… and it's there Luke. So what are we going to do about it?"

He stands up from her bed, pacing in front of her closet and rubbing the back of his neck in that nervous gesture he always did. "Peyton…"

When he turns to her after just whispering her name in awe, he sees the tears falling down her cheeks and makes his way to her.

"I can't be pregnant Luke, we're in high school. We just started dating at the beginning of the year, we can't do this."

"Peyton, it's going to be okay, we're going to figure it out." He says, pulling her to him and laying them down side by side.

The following weeks were hard, not being able to tell anyone about anything, and trying to act like everything was normal. It was never an option for either of them to get rid of the baby, both of them knowing that if Karen had made that choice those years ago, there would have been no Lucas. What they were going to do after that was something that they hadn't talked about yet. They knew their options, but didn't want to jump into anything so soon as it was.

"Peyton Sawyer?" The nurse calls out to them and Peyton and Lucas stand up.

"Can he come with please?" she asks with a timid voice.

"He certainly can young lady." She nods, ushering them into a small exam room.

When the doctor came in, Peyton had explained everything but couldn't put any sort of date to anything that gave the doctor an idea as to how far along she was.

"Okay, well, we're going to do an ultrasound then. We may not be able to clearly see anything depending on how early along you are. Either way, we'll get a better idea as to how far along you are, okay?"

The two teens nod with wide eyes at the woman, not knowing exactly how to react to the fact that they were about to see their baby on the tiny screen in front of them.

After some poking and prodding, the doctor let a sigh out and smiled for a moment, "there we are… do you see that, right there?" she says, pointing to the screen. "That is your baby, and the little dot that keeps jumping is the baby's heart beating."

Regardless of how old you are, having a child growing inside you is something that leaves you awe struck. It didn't matter that they were juniors and kids themselves, but seeing that tiny little heartbeat meant something to both of them.

"Can we hear it, or is it too early?" Peyton asks in a small voice.

"Well, right now, I'm putting you at around 9 weeks. We may not be able to hear it at all, but it is definitely there and the baby is right where it needs to be. Why don't you get dressed, and then I'll come back in and talk to you guys?"

After getting dressed, they heard a small knock on the door and sat back down as the doctor entered the room.

"I brought the two of you a few things. First is a prescription for some prenatal vitamins. You can get over the counter kind, but since you are younger, I want yours to have a few more things in there than normal. I also brought you a few pictures from the ultrasound, just to give you some things to think about."

"Things to think about?" Lucas asks, with a furrowed brow.

"You're what, 16 years old, both of you?" she asks and they nod in affirmation, "have you thought about your options?"

"We're not terminating the pregnancy, but we haven't decided if we are keeping the baby or trying to put it up for adoption."

"Okay… then in that case, here are some packets about both situations… being new parents and finding a family for your baby. Either choice you make is going to be hard, you need to know that. But you've got until the end of August to figure it out."

"Is that when the baby is due?" Peyton asks.

"Probably around the third or fourth week in August. That may change as you get further along and we fix your dates. You need to make sure that you are going to the doctor regularly, and if going to your own doctor isn't an option, you know that you can certainly come here. Obviously, you realized that, or you wouldn't be here today."

"Dr. Walker, we know that we're young, but we also know that contrary to what most may think of our situation, we are responsible. This baby will be taken care of, and we will make sure that he or she will get the best situation possible."

The doctor looked over the pair, surprised at being talked to in such a way, but proud of the teens anyways. "I can see that, and I will see the two of you in a few months, unless something changes."

On the ride home, Peyton sat next to him staring at the pictures in front of her. She couldn't help but do it, and he couldn't blame her.

"She's already beautiful, isn't she?" he says, finally pulling up in front of her house.

"She?"

"Yeah, I bet it's a girl."

Peyton smiles at that, allowing herself a moment to be happy about the thing that was going to change them forever. "I don't want anyone to know about it."

"This isn't something that you can really hide Peyton, you know that right?"

"Well, I plan on hiding it for as long as I can. This has to be our choice Lucas. This can't be your mom or Keith or any of our friends. If it's only us that knows, then we can figure it out on our own."

"If that is what you want, then we won't tell anyone."

She nods before getting out of his car and making her way to the front door, turning back to wave at him for a moment before stepping inside.

It was surprisingly easy the next few months to keep everything hidden. Everything had an explanation that couldn't really be argued with. She didn't visibly gain any weight even though she swore that her pants didn't fit her right any more. No one questioned it, and they didn't have any slip ups.

The doctor was pleased at every appointment, commending the young woman for staying healthy and making sure that she was doing everything that she was supposed to, and the due date was moved back a week, which meant that by the end of the school year she was going to be around six months pregnant. Lucas was convinced that they would be found out, but the doctor even said that while the baby was growing just the way it should be, Peyton didn't look pregnant at all.

When the summer came, it came in a whirlwind, with so many things taking everyone away. They were never so grateful to have everyone gone at the same time. Brooke was off in California, Haley was on a rock tour, Nathan was at High Flyers, his mom was in New Zealand, and her father was at sea. Thankfully, he had taken a longer trip that was going to keep him away all summer long.

"When are we going to meet with them?" Peyton asks, sitting on the couch at Lucas' with her feet on the coffee table, sporting a tank top and shorts that was a rare comfort to her these past few months as she kept her pregnancy hidden.

"Didn't you say that we were supposed to go down there by three o'clock?"

"Oh, yeah… I'm sorry. I've had a lot on my mind."

"Peyton, you know that we can try to figure this out."

She looks up at him from her spot, knowing that he was just trying to make her feel a little better, and knowing that their decision was the right one.

"Given recent events, I have come to realize that what we decided was the right choice."

He sits down next to her, placing a hand on her cheek to get her to turn to face him.

"Are you sure?"

"I am. Are you?"

"I don't know. Sometimes I think about it and I think that we could be okay, and then other times I think about it, and I realize that my childhood would have been so much easier if my mom could have provided more for me, you know?"

"Luke, you're talking to someone who just found out that she was adopted two weeks ago. I'm pretty sure that I've had my fair share of issues with this recently."

When Ellie started coming around and then dropped the bomb on Peyton about being her mother, Peyton took it upon herself to research the thought. She didn't want to call her dad, knowing that he would come rushing home, and knowing that would lead to a lot more than what he had even bargained for. She found out the truth and that solidified she and Lucas' choice. If she hadn't been given to a pair of loving, caring parents, then she may not have made it as far as she had.

Sometimes she questioned that idea though. Had she really come that far?

"Three o'clock then." Lucas says, kissing her quickly on the lips before standing up to make them lunch.

She casually rested a hand on her stomach then, feeling the flutters underneath her hand. Getting pregnant when you're a Junior may have not been something that she had strived for, but she thinks that the way she and Lucas have handled it was admirable.

Save for a few missed days of school for being sick, no one knew. She kept in loose tops, thankful that it was the style, and thanking the powers that be for a small frame. She may have looked a bit different, as if she had put on a couple pounds, but nothing that would make anybody look twice, which was what helped them hide it so easily.

Later in the day they met with a couple who lived an hour away from Tree Hill. She couldn't have children but wanted them badly, and he was a very successful businessman who spent most of his time working from home.

"Lucas and Peyton?" Joanne says, opening the door to the young parents.

"Joanne Baley?" Peyton asks, confirming what she really already knew from the pictures and the writings that they couple had sent the adoption agency.

"That's me! Come on in you two, I've got some sweet tea waiting for you in the living room."

When Richard Baley came into the room it was with that same warm greeting that they were met with at the door. "I apologize for not getting to see you at the door. I had just a few things to get finished for work tomorrow."

"Oh, that's okay, we understand." Lucas says, sitting down next to Peyton on the sofa.

"So, tell us about the two of you…" Joanne says, the smile reaching her eyes as she asks.

"Well, I'm about six and a half months along, and we just found out that the baby is a girl. She should make an appearance sometime in late August-"

"We know about the baby, Peyton. We want to know about the two of you. What are your plans? What are your interests?" Richard says to her softly, meaning every word.

Lucas and Peyton shared a look before telling them about plans that they had for the future. It was as if they were just talking to their own parents about it, sharing openly all the dreams that they had.

"And what made the two of you decide on adoption? It seems like you have good heads on your shoulders, you could make it work."

"I just found out that I was adopted. My birth mother had me at a younger age, and knew that she wouldn't be able to raise me the right way and follow the dreams that she had." She starts, pausing for a moment to keep her emotions in check. "Lucas and I… we've thought all along that maybe we could do it, raise her ourselves. But after I met Ellie, I realized that she gave me up to such a wonderful pair of parents who took such good care of me. We feel like we might be cheating her out of what I had. It would be selfish of us to try to raise her and try to still get through high school and get into a good college. It's not fair to her."

"Can I ask you something?" Joanne says, lowering her voice to Peyton and letting her eyes meet the younger girl who nodded in her direction. "Do the two of you want to keep her?"

A few tears fell then, and Peyton reached up to catch them before looking over to Lucas.

"More than anything… but we know that it would be better to have her with someone who can give her more time and more love… we're too young to do this on our own." Lucas says, placing his hand in Peyton's and squeezing in reassurance.

The Baleys continued to ask some questions, talking about themselves and what they wanted to give to a baby, and how they wanted to have a family. They were a great couple and didn't seem to pass any judgment on the teenagers. In fact they commended them for their choices and responsibility, which put Peyton and Lucas at ease. After they met, it was decided that the Baleys would become the adoptive parents of the little girl they were having. Knowing the circumstances, the couple insisted that the adoption be an open one. Lucas and Peyton could come see their daughter whenever they wanted, and they would try to send updates as often as they could.

It was one of the easiest decisions they could ever make in the moment, but when the day finally came, it proved to be one of the hardest things they could ever do.

"Come on Peyton, you can do this…" he says, wiping at her forehead and squeezing her hand.

"I can't do this anymore Luke, I'm too tired." She sighs out, leaning back against the pillow again.

"Yes you can, you can do this. You have to do this, Peyton. Don't you want to meet that beautiful baby girl?"

Tears sprang to her eyes at his words, and she knew that he was right. She could do this.

When she finally came out, the nurse brought her over to the proud parents for a moment and Peyton's tears overflowed. "Sawyer."

"Is that her name?" the nurse asked softly.

Peyton nods dreamily as she looks at the little girl in the nurse's arms.

"Well, I think that Sawyer wants to see her mommy." She says, holding the tiny baby out towards Peyton, who was fervently shaking her head.

"Luke." Peyton pleads.

He steps in then, knowing what she needed from him.

"There is actually a couple in the waiting room waiting to meet their daughter."

"What about the name?" she asks, pulling the bundle back towards her.

"Her name is Sawyer Elizabeth Baley. Her adoptive parents wanted us to name her, but I think that they should see her now."

With a look to a tearful Peyton who was clutching Lucas' hand, the nurse stepped out of the room to clean the baby off and get her out to her adoptive parents.

He leans down then, kissing her cheek. "You did it."

She smiles for the first time all day and nods as he then moves to kiss her forehead.

"She was beautiful."

"She was."

"Lucas?"

"We did the right thing…" he says, caressing her forehead, and wiping away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks not realizing the tears that he shed as well.

"I didn't know that the right thing was going to hurt this much."

He pulls her to him as much as he can until another nurse comes in to check on Peyton and make sure that everything was okay.

A few hours later, while the pair was sitting together, waiting for a doctor to say that they could go home, they heard a small knock at the door.

Joanne Baley was at the door with her husband, carrying a small little bundle of pink.

"Are we interrupting anything?" she asks quietly.

"No, not at all." Lucas says from his spot in the chair next to Peyton's bed.

"We just…we knew that you didn't get to hold her, and we wanted to make sure that you did. You deserve it for bringing such a beautiful little girl into the world."

"I wouldn't want to cross any—"

"Peyton, Lucas, we meant what we said about this adoption. We know that if circumstances were different and the two of you were a little older that you would have your daughter with you. We don't want you to think that we are taking her from you. We want you to understand that we're keeping her for you." Richard Baley says, putting an arm around his wife as he looks down at the baby and back up to the two teenagers that brought her to them.

"Now… I think that Sawyer would like a moment with her birth parents, if that's okay with you."

Peyton nods eagerly, putting her arms out to take the little girl.

Once in her arms, the baby seemed to settle in, and Peyton couldn't help but smile down at the little girl. "She's beautiful."

"We'll give the three of you a minute." Joanne says, backing out of the room.

The pair seemed transfixed for the next few minutes, watching the tiny little body take in air, move her hands about, and open up her newly discovered eyes.

It was Lucas who finally broke the silence, "She's going to have your hair."

Peyton laughs at this and pokes a loving finger at the baby's nose, "and your nose."

"Definitely your chickeny little legs…"

"She'll have your smarts though."

"Your wit."

"Your eyes."

"Nah… she's going to have your eyes."

She looks up at him with a watery smile before taking a moment to pull the little girl close to her chest, whispering into her daughter's ear. "Sawyer Elizabeth, you will always be a Scott at heart, and we will always love you. We do love you, but we know that you are going to do so much better with your new parents than you could with us. You were not a mistake, but you were a miracle, and we love you."

As the tears rolled down her cheeks the baby opened up her eyes, seemingly looking up at her mother and father for a split second before closing her eyes and settling back in to sweet slumber.

This was how the Baley's found Lucas and Peyton just fifteen minutes later.

"Are the two of you sure about this?" Richard asks, looking down at the would-be family.

Peyton just extends her arms out in a gesture that tells them the baby is theirs.

"We know that you are going to be good to her, and we know that we couldn't give to her what the two of you could."

Joanne nods as she takes the little girl with such a gentle grace as if she was meant to do it. "We'd like to send you pictures and updates if you'll let us. Maybe every other month or so, just so you know that she's okay. We want the two of you to know about her life, be a part of it."

"It would be wonderful to be able to see her grow up that way." Peyton says with a smile.

"We'll take good care of her, you know that."

"We do." The pair says almost in unison.

And with that, the new family leaves the young couple in the hospital room alone.

"What do we do now?"

"What we gave her up for. We get the grades, we get into a good school, and we live out our dreams."

"That isn't selfish of us?"

"It would have been more selfish for us to keep her, Peyton, we both know that."

They sit for a moment in silence, each taking in the events of the day, and thinking about the days to come.

"This isn't what I saw happening… you and me and a baby… I saw that… but not between Junior and Senior year." She says, breaking the silence and the tears with a small laugh.

"It will still happen. Because the second we get out of college, I'm going to marry you Peyton Sawyer, and we are going to get all those dreams that we set out for."

"Really?"

"It's what I believe with all my heart, Peyton."

She lets out a sigh, looking toward the door and then back at Lucas. "Then that's what I believe to."

---

Okay, so this is the first of a new series that I'm writing, but I promise you that I'm writing and finishing the whole thing before posting a single chapter. This is totally inspired by my watching of Ally McBeal reruns and Life Unexpected, but it'll be totally different from either of those shows, so don't think that you can guess what's going to happen, cause I'm thinking you won't!!

For those of you faithful readers who are still waiting on an update of …and It Lasted Through The Years, it IS coming. It is just a slow process right now, because I kind of lost touch with the story for a bit. I'll update soon though, I promise!!

Read and Review and let me know what you think.


	2. The Start of a Year

When everyone came home, it was like nothing had changed. Brooke was back to her bubbly self, planning a beginning of the year bonfire. Nathan and Haley were on rocky ground with each other, but everyone was sure that they were going to end up together in the end anyway. And they were Seniors.

No one commented on the extra touches shared between Lucas and Peyton, not knowing that they just needed to be a bit more aware of the other. Not one noticed Peyton taking a moment here or there to stare off into space, daydreaming about something that could have been. It was just the beginning of another school year, and the summer, with all of its eventfulness had come to an end.

It was as if nothing significant had happened to them, even though what happened totally changed their lives. They had just a few small reminders of the event hidden away and no one to talk about it with. It was odd to realize how easily the whole thing could be forgotten, but it was something they agreed they didn't want to forget. They soon found out that the Baleys would stay true to their word as well.

The first letter arrived on a game day, and Peyton found it in her mailbox when she went home for lunch. Lunch was forgotten, and she hopped back into her car as quickly as she could, running back into the school in search of Lucas.

"What do you have there P. Sawyer?" Brooke asks, gesturing towards the envelope with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing, but I need to talk to Luke." She says, trying to play it off as casual, turning Lucas toward her.

"Does the reason you have to talk to Luke have something to do with what is in your hand?" she asks, grabbing for it, making Peyton pull it back and hide it behind the shield of Lucas.

She stared staring with wide eyes at Lucas, trying to get him to understand what she held in her hand. "Oh, no… I just need to steal my boyfriend for a minute… can I do that?"

"And ruin my plans of stealing him from you?" she jokes, remembering when they dated for a total of two seconds the year before, before realizing that the two broody blondes were meant to be with each other.

"Funny…bye!" she says with a smile, dragging Lucas by the arm outside to the quad.

When they finally sit down at the table, they put the envelope down in front of them.

"I'm scared to open it…" he admits.

"Me too."

"Why are we scared?"

"Because we want to know that we made the right choice, and the answer is going to be in that envelope." She says matter of factly.

He finally picks it up, tearing into the top part and peeking inside to find two photos and a letter.

Picking out the photos, they see their baby girl clad in all pink with wide eyes rocking in a baby swing, and then they see a picture that makes them both take in a breath.

"When did they do this?"

"Probably when we were mesmerized by her. Everything else fell away in that hospital room Peyton. They could have dropped bombs outside and the only thing I would remember is you holding that little girl."

The second picture was from the hospital, with Peyton holding Sawyer and Lucas peering over at the two of them. The smile on both faces showing how much they didn't want that little girl to leave their arms.

The letter spoke of doctors visits and a clean bill of health, spit up, and some nasty diaper changes. She started sleeping through the night nearly automatically, which made Lucas chuckle because he remembers his mom telling him that he did the same and it scared her to death.

"She's doing good."

"She is doing great." He says, rubbing a hand up and down her back as they sit.

Peyton nods, turning towards him and leaning her head on his shoulder, "We did the right thing, Luke. And we'll still get to see her grow up."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, but I'm soooo not in the mood for calculus now."

"I'm thinking that History is optional for me today too… you wanna take a bit?"

She considers it for a moment before shaking her head. "We gave her up so we could live the lives we wanted, which means that we need to actually go to class so we can get into college and do all that stuff we said we wanted to do."

He laughs, telling her that she's right and folds the letter, putting it back into the envelope.

"I'll keep it at my house… put it in the box." She says almost sadly.

They started a box when Peyton found out she was pregnant. Sonogram pictures and calendars, hospital bracelets, and a letter from the Baley's when they applied for the adoption. It was a small box, but was something that the young couple wanted to keep close to them.

"I think that is a great idea."

She wipes a few tears that had collected and stands up before holding her hand out to him, "Walk me to class Lucas Scott?"

"Most definitely, Peyton Sawyer."

Everything kept in line then, falling into place, until a day that shook the entire school to the core.

Jimmy Edwards was a good kid, someone who Lucas had known growing up, but the day he came to school with a gun would change everyone forever. Two people wouldn't walk out of that school ever again, and one would be carried out in the arms of someone who was always saving her.

"I've got to get you out of here, Peyton." He says, looking down at her after looking again towards the door.

"No, Luke, I can't move, I tried." She says, crying out to him.

"Okay, then we'll have to hide in here until someone comes in to get us out of here." He says, walking back towards the door.

"No, don't leave me!"

"I'm not going to leave you, I'm going to go block the doors. These doors don't lock."

She nods hesitantly, watching him disappear behind the bookshelves.

When he comes back he pulls her to him, taking a moment to check her leg and tie his shirt around the wound to attempt to stop the bleeding first.

Nearly an hour goes by when he notices her eyes drooping, "Peyton, you've got to stay with me."

"I'm so tired Luke."

"Talk to me then, Peyton. Tell me what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking about her. About what she is going to be."

"And what is she going to be?"

A small smile crosses Peyton's lips before turning to look at Lucas, "Everything."

He laughs then, knowing the hope that she has for the little girl they both love but know they can't provide the best for.

"Tell me." He commands simply.

"She's going to grow up to be beautiful, and she's going to change the world. She's going to fall in love with a man who tells her that he's been in love with her since he used to watch her in junior high. They're going to get married and have beautiful babies…"

"So, she's going to turn out exactly like her mother?"

"Stop." Peyton says, half serious and half joking.

"Change the world, fall in love with a great guy, get married, have tons of babies… that sounds like you and your future Peyton."

"Maybe…" she says sleepily, dosing off again.

It finally occurs to Lucas that this is it. This moment could be it for the two of them, and once she falls asleep, he isn't going to be able to wake her up and she needs to get out of here. When he picks her up, she's dead weight, which may not be a lot of weight for Peyton, but it is unmoving and unnerving all at the same time.

When she finally wakes up again, she's in the hospital and Lucas is at her side telling her that her dad is on his way. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Saving me." She says, taking his hand.

"Somebody has to you know." He returns, placing a small kiss to her cheek.

"What happened, Luke?" she asks.

"Keith… he came in to find me, but he died Peyton. Jimmy shot him." He says, finally allowing himself to break down.

"Luke, you should be with your mom."

"She told me to come and check on you. You didn't have anyone here, and she wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"You get your selflessness from your mother, you know that?" she says, putting a hand on his cheek to wipe away the tears there.

"I don't know what I would have done if I lost you Peyton, I don't think I could survive it."

"You aren't ever going to lose me Lucas Scott, never in a million years is that going to happen." She says, letting him rest his head on her bed beside her hand.

When Larry Sawyer finds them, Lucas is sleeping with his head on the bed next to Peyton, bent over in a chair. He sees that their hands are locked and somehow knows that he couldn't get them apart if he tried. That boy saved his daughter's life, so he could stay as long as he wanted.

In trying to get back to life after what happened at school that day, there was a lot of healing to be had. Karen lashed out at her son, blaming him for the death of his Uncle, which he took very hard. Brooke was wrecked with the guilt of knowing that she lost her best friend in the school that day and almost lost her completely. Nathan and Haley were still coping with what happened in the tutor center that day, coming face to face with the boy who they thought shot Keith Scott and injured one of their best friends.

Peyton and Lucas seemed to grow stronger together. With Peyton's leg in bad shape, she needed extra help with everything. With Lucas not being able to bear being around a mother who at the time hated him, he needed the comfort for the grief of losing a man who was like a father to him. So, two weeks after the shooting, Larry Sawyer left, knowing that whatever help she needed she could find in Lucas.

With the house empty and Peyton not being able to go back to school yet, she was bored, which meant that all she had time to do was think. She thought about her and Lucas. She thought about that day in the school. She thought about the summer that passed. Most of all, she thought about how lonely the house was now that her dad was gone.

Two days after Larry left, Lucas came upstairs hopping on Peyton's bed and clutching an envelope.

"It hasn't already been two months, has it?" Peyton says with wide eyes seeing the return address.

"Nope, but I'm not going to complain about it."

"Do you think something is wrong?"

"Why don't we open the letter before jumping to conclusions?" he says kissing her forehead and starting to open the letter.

Another few pictures were taken of the little girl in her swing and one where she is laying in the middle of the floor with her feet in the air and her mouth open in a yawn.

The letter that was written explained that the Baleys heard what happened in Tree Hill, and found out about Peyton. They figured that she would need the extra encouragement to get better. It also gave condolences to Lucas for the loss of his Uncle and expressed that if the young couple needed anything in the wake of all this, that they were there and willing to help.

"I'm glad that we picked them." Peyton says simply after reading the letter aloud to Luke.

"They are pretty amazing, aren't they?"

She nods her head, smiling while grabbing the pictures again to examine the little girl. It helped everything fade away. All of the pain that they felt after the school shooting, losing Keith, and just dealing with things they shouldn't have to at such a young age was melting away.

It was nearly gone when something came back to haunt them a few months later.

"I'm pregnant." She says, waiting for a reaction from the group before her.

A lip quivered more than it should have with the shaky reply of, "you're what?"

"I'm pregnant! Nathan and I are going to have a baby…" Haley says proudly, looking between Brooke, Peyton, and Lucas.

Lucas didn't look phased at all, which made Peyton believe that he knew about it. Brooke was the same way. Peyton however had a reaction that no one expected, which was really no reaction at all.

When she turned away, Haley's jaw dropped, "Peyton!" she calls out.

"I'm sorry Haley, I'm happy for you guys, I just can't be here right now." She says, turning around to face Haley, and then turning back to walk away from the group.

Lucas made a comment about Ellie having her so young and it bringing up those feelings, which the group seemed to understand and completely buy as the reason for her sudden departure. He knew that wasn't even remotely the case, and he knew that this was going to shake Peyton for a while.

He tried to find her after that with no success, and figured that she probably needed some time to herself and would seek him out like she always did with these matters of the heart. He wanted to tell her that he probably let all the thoughts that she's thinking go through his head the second he found out Haley was pregnant. It was a lot to digest, and given the circumstances, it was quite hard to take.

It happened before when they had found out after Haley and Nathan's vow renewal that Karen was pregnant. Peyton had been more shocked than upset, understanding that this was going to be the greatest of blessings after what had happened to Keith. But Haley being pregnant just surfaced all those same ideas that she had last year about not wanting everyone to know, not knowing what they were going to do.

"Hey." She says, finding him at the River Court later that evening.

"I tried to find you, but I figured that you needed your space."

"Thank you." She says, walking up to him and grabbing his hands in hers.

"You gonna talk to me about this?"

She shakes her head for a second, looking down at the ground between them. A tear falls and her hand quickly goes up to wipe any other traitors away.

Finally looking up at him, the tears flow down her cheeks, "It's not fair."

"The situation is different."

"I know that, but it isn't fair, Luke."

"Peyton, we went through this with mom too, we'll get to have this again, you know that… it just wasn't the right time for us."

"Your mom was totally different. She's your mom for one. Haley and Nathan are our age, Luke. How are they allowed to do this and all is fine and everyone is excited, but we have to give up our daughter to be raised by people that we honestly don't know."

"Don't degrade that adoption Peyton… you know that family is taking very good care of Sawyer."

"Don't."

"Don't what?" he says, getting angry that she be reacting in such a negative way.

"Don't say her name."

"Peyton, we named her, we love her, we have every right to talk about her all we want."

"Yeah, just not with anyone that matters to us." She bites back at him.

"Is that what this is about? You want to be able to talk to someone about this? Fine! Tell Brooke, Tell Haley… it doesn't matter."

"But it does Lucas!" she says, now screaming back at him.

"You don't think that I don't wish everyday that we could have kept her? You don't think that it didn't break my heart to hear that my best friend was pregnant and keeping the baby? She's my best friend Peyton, and all I wanted to do when she told me was curl up into a ball on my bed and cry. Even when my own mother told me that she was having a baby, part of me was upset. For a minute I let myself be angry that she and my Uncle Keith were having a baby. Is that what you wanted to hear? I miss her too. This didn't just affect you!"

"You think that I don't know how much this affected you?" She says in a whisper understanding that maybe they had let this fight go a little too far.

"I don't think that… I just think that maybe you forget sometimes… I miss her Peyton. I miss that baby every day, but you and I both know that we are not in a place in our lives where we can raise a child, and our families can't help us either."

She takes a moment then, thinking about the argument and how stupid it really was. They should be excited for their friend, and their daughter was being raised by a great couple of people. What had happened was unfortunate, but Lucas was right.

"I know all of that. Logically, my head understands all of that. But my heart is a totally different story, because my heart makes me feel all those sad moments. Thinking about Haley and knowing what she's going to be going through, but not able to share anything with her, and knowing that she's going to have Karen there for her too. God Lucas, I needed that, but I couldn't do it, and now… it's like I'm jealous, but it's not that… I…"

"Peyton, we can tell everyone."

She thinks about it for just a moment before she shakes her head. "The whole reason we said nothing was so we could do what was best for our daughter without someone else getting to have their two cents. If we tell them now, there are going to be so many questions, and I don't think that I'm ready to face them. I don't think I'm ready to hear what they would have to say."

"Okay."

"Just okay?"

"Peyton, I want what is going to be best for us too… if this is something that is going to keep coming up, then we need to talk about it and not fight about it."

"Yelling just feels so good sometimes though!" she says with a glimmer in her eye.

He pulls her in for a hug then, taking her to his side and kissing the top of her head. "We should go home."

"Where's home tonight?"

"Your place?"

"Sounds like a plan…"

They knew, walking away from that river court was just the beginning of all the things that the two would have to deal with down the road. It wasn't always going to be easy. It wasn't going to be pretty. They would get through it, and they would be together.

--

Okay, so this is the second installment. I'm hoping that you are liking it so far. It is weird to think about this kind of storyline for Lucas and Peyton knowing what they had together in Season Six. I hope that you are picking up on the things in the show that happened and the things that didn't happen, such as Lucas and Brooke not ever getting a chance at their relationship, or Larry and Peyton never coming to blows about what happened with her birth mother.

Anyways… read and review… and most of all… enjoy!!


	3. Starting the Dream

Before they knew it, it was the moment they had all been waiting for. It seemed as if the year had flown by. Senior year was over, finals were done, and graduation was just a few short days away. Lucas' mom was ready to pop and after an investigation into Keith's death, Dan was in jail. Haley was just the same as his mom, ready to have her baby at any second, and Nathan was just ready to get on with life.

The four had decided on Gilmore for school, after knowing that Nathan wouldn't be able to play at a Big Ten school because of an unfortunate point shaving incident in the last part of the year. So, when Whitey told Nathan that he needed a basketball player, and he told Lucas he wanted an assistant coach, that meant that Lucas and Nathan were going to Gilmore. This also meant that Haley and Peyton were going with them.

Peyton was leaving for two months to do an internship for Sire Records in Los Angeles, but was coming back a few weeks before the four were going to move into the house they were renting together. Brooke was going with her to L.A., working with a few companies out there for her Clothes Over Bros designs.

Just a few days before graduation, Karen was sent to the hospital and put on bedrest, which meant that she wouldn't be in attendance on the big day. Larry had called just a few days earlier and said that he wasn't going to be able to make it either. So, the five were going to have no one there for them on the biggest day, as far as anyone else knew, of their lives thus far.

The morning of graduation, Lucas snuck into Peyton's room, which was a regular occurrence that was met with a sleepy smile from a close-eyed Peyton.

"Good morning."

"Good morning." He says, kissing her cheek and laying down next to her for a moment. "Do you know what day it is?"

"Graduation day… the day the rest of everything starts for us. I only wish that you would have let me sleep in a little bit more." She replies, swatting his shoulder next to her.

"I couldn't wait to see you though" he says smiling at the fact that she still hadn't opened her eyes yet.

"And why is that?"

"Because I brought you your graduation present."

She opens her eyes then, wide, "What!? We never said that we were going to do that!"

"Well, the present itself is from my mother, but the sentiment and the need for it come from me…"

Her eyebrow goes up at that, asking a silent question with her eyes meeting his.

"You have to close your eyes and hold out your hands for me to give it to you."

"What? I do not." She says, slumping her shoulder and letting a smirk fall on her lips.

He nods, making no move to retrieve her present until she closes her eyes.

When she does, she feels him shift for a moment and then open up both of her hands. However when his fingers linger on the ring finger of her left hand and she feels something pass over her knuckle there, she lets her breath catch for a moment. "Lucas…"

"Are you going to open your eyes now?" he asks with a smile that she can actually hear in his voice.

"No." she says, shaking her hand.

"Then you are going to have a very anxious father and I'm going to have a very disappointed mother in a few minutes, because they are both expecting a phone call very soon."

She opens her eyes then, meeting his before allowing her gaze to shift down to her hand, where a very familiar ring was now settled.

"Lucas… I can't take Keith's ring." She says, holding her other hand up to her mouth in a near gasp.

"Mom wanted you to have it. She said that it needed to be kept in the family. When I even mentioned the idea of asking you, she practically ran into her room to get it."

"She ran?" Peyton says, raising that signature eyebrow.

"Okay, she waddled a little bit." He says, causing them both to laugh. "Now, I know that we aren't going to get married until we're done with school, but I just wanted it to be official already. I love you Peyton, and I've loved being with you for two years now, and was probably madly in love with you long before that. We have been through more than most by now, and I can't think of anyone to spend the rest of my life with. Will you marry me?"

"Yes…" she says just above a whisper before locking her lips with his.

After calling Peyton's father, who was expecting a call that day, they went to the hospital and were met by a beaming Karen who couldn't express how happy she was about Lucas and Peyton and the engagement. Then she let herself feel guilty about not being able to be there for their graduation ceremony, to which Lucas explained that it was okay because he had another surprise for her anyway.

"Really?" she says, turning to him after the words were out of his mouth.

"Do I know about this surprise?" Karen asks from her bed, stroking her stomach in a way that seemed to be a protective gesture over the baby inside her.

"Nope, and no one else does. But you won't get it if we don't hurry up and get going. We told everyone we would meet for a family breakfast before we went."

"Family breakfast?"

"Haley, Nathan, us, Brooke, Mouth, Skills… everyone, basically."

"Well, I expect a lot of pictures, and a visit later, okay?" Karen says with a smile on her face, adding, "and congratulations again you two" while grabbing Peyton's hand again.

They make their way over to the diner for breakfast and it is Brooke who instantly notices the ring on Peyton's finger before anyone else. "Oh my GOD!!! You guys are engaged?"

Peyton and Lucas both allow a crimson blush to flood their faces as the rest of the group focuses on Peyton's finger for a few minutes, offering up their congratulations and well wishes. Haley, after a few minutes just starts to laugh at the situation.

"You aren't happy for your best friend?" Lucas asks, knowing that isn't the case and she found something different amusing.

"No, I'm just thinking about how we are so not the typical college freshman, with one couple engaged, and one married with an infant. It's going to cause quite the scene."

The rest of them think about it for a minute before allowing themselves to laugh a bit at the situation themselves. It really wasn't the typical situation, but for some reason, it was accepted by the entire group. They weren't typical. One girl going off to start a fashion empire. One young couple engaged to be married. Another young couple already married with a baby on the way. If they only knew the secret shared by the newly engaged and how odd the whole group really would be. But they were happy, and that was all that mattered to any of them or the parents of the group that were present in their lives.

Graduation seemed to fly by, sitting and standing, going up to get their diplomas, throwing up caps, Haley's speech. It was a perfect day, and it was a perfect end to the year. When Lucas finally got Peyton away from some of the other cheerleaders, the day only got better.

"Congratulations, you two! On more than one account I see from the ring on your finger." Richard Baley says, extending his hand to Lucas again, and pulling Peyton in for a hug.

Just when Peyton was about to say thank you, Joanne came up to the three, carrying a sweetly dressed blonde baby in her arms. "Someone else wanted to say congratulations too."

At the sight of her both of them took a moment, letting the smiles come to their faces before waving to the little girl smiling back at them.

"She got so big." Peyton says stroking the blonde curls on the little girl's head.

"And I was right about her hair." Lucas says, leaning in to whisper in Peyton's ear.

They were oblivious to their friends coming up behind them until Brooke made her presence known, "Are you guys ready to head out?"

The pair turned in almost shock, not knowing exactly how to explain the couple they were talking to and almost praying that no one would ask.

"Oh my gosh! She's so adorable!" Haley says, stepping past Brooke to the smiling baby. "How old is she?"

"She's almost a year old…" Joanne says.

"Isn't she just beautiful? What's her name?" Haley asks, continuing to gush over the little girl.

Richard picked up on the awkward stance of both teens before answering Haley quickly, "Elizabeth."

Lucas sent him a silent thank you and smiled at Haley interacting with the little girl that was technically her niece.

"Joanne and Richard used to live down the street from my dad and mom. They heard that dad wasn't going to be here and made the trip to see me graduate." Peyton adds easily, making up a reason for the Baleys to be in attendance, not catching the odd look on Brooke's face.

"And we should be going, but I know that your dad would like some pictures. Maybe your friends could get a picture of all of us to send your dad, and maybe we could get a picture of the two of you with Elizabeth… I know that our parents would get a kick out of seeing the next generation." Joanne says, handing the baby to Peyton, who takes her with ease and heartache all at the same time.

Peyton lets the idea wash over her, and thanks them for the idea in her head. They take a few pictures and then are kind enough to take a few pictures of the teens all together as well, promising Lucas and Peyton to send them as soon as they get her new school address.

"We'll definitely look forward to that." Peyton says, handing the little girl back to Joanne, kissing her on the forehead. "And thank you for bringing her. It was great to see her again."

"I'm sorry your dad couldn't make it. And it was nice to meet you all."

Nathan moves to shake the man's hand, "Thanks for taking the pictures too, I'm sure Mr. Sawyer will appreciate it. And like my wife said, you have a beautiful daughter."

"Thank you, but we can't really take the credit for her… we adopted her right after she was born. The credit goes to her birth parents." Richard says, turning away from the group and back to his wife and daughter.

"I'm sure that she is a lucky little girl then…"

Peyton bites her bottom lip then, holding onto Lucas' hand a bit tighter than before, which didn't go unnoticed by the most observant in their group. They wave to the small family and it is she that breaks the silence, "I'm starving… how about a late lunch and then we can hang out at my place with some movies?"

"Sounds like a plan" Haley says happily, helping Peyton erase all of the feelings that came up in the past few minutes.

"Why don't we all meet there in like an hour, that way we can change first?" Lucas suggests, placing a reassuring hand on Peyton's back, letting her know that they probably needed a minute to themselves.

"Sounds like a plan." Nathan says, pulling Haley towards their car.

Once they got in to the car, there were no words, and the drive to Peyton's was in silence. He couldn't decide if it had been a good idea to invite the Baleys or not, because Peyton had stopped showing any emotion the second they were out of sight.

When they reached the front door, she fumbled a bit with the keys, making him realize that she was a little more rattled than she wanted him to see. He didn't hesitate to take her in his arms and let her cry for a few minutes.

"I should have warned you that I had invited them. I'm sorry, I thought that you would like to see her…"

She looks up then, and places a long kiss on his lips, letting it linger there for some time before breathing became a necessity. "That was the best surprise I've ever gotten."

"Really?" he says, unsure of himself and unsure of her answer.

"Honestly, it was the next best thing to telling everyone, because they got to meet her, and they got to see how beautiful she is. They didn't have to know that she was ours, but we knew, and that mattered to me Luke. It mattered a lot."

"She really has gotten big… and those curls."

"Poor baby girl is cursed with my hair." Peyton says, laughing and looking up through wet eyelashes at her new fiancé.

"I hope that after we get married our next one is cursed with your hair too, because I love these curls." He says, running his fingers through her hair in the slowest way possible.

"God, I love you."

"Well that's good seeing as how you're going to marry me Peyton Sawyer soon to be Scott."

"I like the sound of that, you know."

"Peyton Scott?"

She just smiles up at him in answer. "Let's go get changed. We've only got forty five minutes, and I've got some other things planned for you Scott."

He just laughs as she grabs onto his hand and drags him through the front door and up the stairs to her bedroom.

After graduation day and all that went along with that, the group was split up, with Peyton and Brooke going off to Los Angeles, Nathan and Haley moving out to their school house early, and Lucas staying home to help his mom with his new baby sister.

For Peyton and Lucas, this meant long phone calls and extended e-mails that were read and replied to within seconds of receiving. They swore up and down that no matter what, they would make sure that their relationship was a priority, even though they were a continent away from each other. It was the phone calls that became her lifeline when she was struggling with an idea that had been planted in her head just a week before.

"Hey, so I've got to talk to you about something." She says, trying to not let the emotion seep into her voice.

"_And I have a brand new letter to share with you."_

"About Sawyer? They sent another one?" she says, allowing herself to get excited.

"_Yeah, and when I can get mom out of the house, I'll use her scanner to send you the pictures, but it has been two months."_

"Oh, trust me, I know."

"_I can't believe this flew by so quickly, you're going to be home in two weeks."_ He says, not hearing anything on her end, "_Peyton?"_

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about… they offered me a job, Luke."

"_Oh."_

"Don't do that Lucas."

"_Don't do what? I didn't say anything."_

"Thousands of miles away I can hear that disappointed sigh in your voice. Just tell me what you're really feeling."

"_If I told you that, then I wouldn't be supporting what you want to do."_ He says, getting a little agitated with her.

"I never said that I was going to take the job." She says, allowing her voice to raise in the slightest bit.

"_Well, obviously the thought crossed your mind or you wouldn't be bringing it up to me."_

"Did you ever think that I was just telling you to tell you? Maybe I wanted you to be proud of me?"

"_I know you Peyton, you wouldn't have brought it up unless you were considering it."_

"Well, I turned it down yesterday…" she says quietly and hears his gasp at the other end of the line. "What, you're surprised?"

"_Peyton that was like a dream for you… to work at a major label and get connections out in Los Angeles, why would you turn it down?"_

She lets the tears fall then, "Oh, so now you're all supportive? God, Luke, I turned it down because of you, and… because of Sawyer."

"_What does this have to do with Sawyer?"_

"Me staying in L.A. wasn't part of our plan. I was supposed to get a degree and then start my own label. We were going to do all that together. And I… you know how much I love you Lucas. I couldn't stay away from you that long."

"_Peyton, I can go to school anywhere. If you want to stay, I'll come out there, you know that."_

"I do know that, and I love you for that, but the more I thought about it, the more it didn't make sense."

"_Then why did you even bring it up if you had already turned them down?"_

"I don't know. Maybe I wanted you to see that I could do it." She says, and waits on the line as she hears nothing but silence and the shuffling of the phone on the other end. "Luke?"

"_Open your e-mail, read, and call me back when you're done." _He says, cryptically.

"Um… okay." She says, hearing him say that he loves her and hanging up the phone.

When she opened her e-mail that night, she didn't know that it was the start of not sleeping. For an entire day, she sat in front of her computer, pouring over the words that he had written. Words about them and about their daughter that she never knew he had inside him. A few chapters in he speaks of the confidence he has in her and all that she has to offer the music world. He speaks of loving her the moment he met her eyes. When she hit the end of the document, she shut her laptop and pick up her phone.

"Hi, I'd like to make a reservation. Tree Hill, North Carolina as soon as you can get me there."

Two hours later, she was packed back up in the three suitcases she used to come there, she had called Brooke, and she was on her way to the airport.

Many hours after that, at around ten o'clock that evening, she was standing on the porch of a familiar door, nervously knocking as if she hadn't spent the greater part of the last few years doing just what she was doing right then.

When he opened the door, all she could do was hold onto him, grabbing the collar of his shirt and planting her lips on his for a good few minutes before pulling back.

"What are you doing here?" he asks finally, perplexed that she was even standing in front of him.

"I finished your novel."

He laughs, realizing that she had to have not slept a wink to finish all of it and be here in front of him now. "And I say again, what are you doing here? You still have two weeks left on your internship."

"Well, L.A. doesn't have my fiancé, and I realized that no matter what I end up doing with my life, you need to be there with me… every step of the way."

He kisses her then, noting how the smile hasn't left her face since she saw him open the door.

That was of course how Karen found them a few minutes later, kissing by his open door.

"Peyton!" she says, carrying her daughter in one arm and embracing the young woman she considered a daughter with the other. "What are you doing home?"

"I couldn't stay away. I missed it here, and I missed Luke, and I just needed to be back."

"Well, I know that Lucas is glad to see you and I am too. And I'm sure that miss Lily is glad to have her soon to be sister-in-law back too!" Karen says, pinching the cheeks of the small baby in her arms.

"What are you two still doing up, Mom?" Luke, asks, moving to take the little girl.

"She doesn't feel the need to sleep. So, she's staying awake for the rest of us." Karen says, touching the little girl's nose and stifling a yawn.

"We've got her, Karen… go to bed."

"No! You just got back into town, and you and Lucas deserve some alone time. You aren't on baby duty."

Peyton grabs the baby from Lucas with an ease that surprises her and Karen alike. "We've got her, we don't mind, and you need some sleep."

Karen nods at the younger woman, watching her cradle the little girl and realizing that she was going to lose this battle. She makes her way out of the room as quickly as she came, leaving the three to themselves.

"She also got big in these past few months." Peyton says, shifting the little girl in her arms to a more comfortable position for all and getting a pair of droopy eyes staring at her in return.

"Which reminds me that you never got to read the letter or see the pictures. She's almost a year now, can you believe it?" Lucas says, searching for the envelope that he had hidden between some papers in his desk drawer.

"In my defense, you did hang up on me."

"Only because I knew that you needed to read what I had written about you and about the baby. I knew that it would do you good."

"Did you know that it would make me hop the next flight out here?"

"That I wasn't prepared for, but I'm glad for that anyways."

He pulls the letter and pictures out of the envelope, revealing a slowly toddling Sawyer. Then there were a few pictures of her falling asleep in her high chair or on her rocking horse.

"She's totally your kid, cause she can fall asleep anywhere." Peyton says, recalling the few times that she has seen Lucas totally pass out in weird positions.

"But you do realize that every month that passes, she looks more and more like you…"

"She does not… she has your eyes."

"That may be the only thing she has, cause the rest is all you."

They read a letter that describes her first steps and mumbling a few first words. Apparently she has also befriended a toddler boy who just moved in down the street, which Joanne says is probably going to be her first heartbreaker. They laugh at that, picturing the girl growing up to break a few hearts herself if she got her father's personality and her mother's looks.

"Still doing good."

"And how about us? Are we still doing pretty good?"

"What do you think?" Peyton asks, staring down at the now sleeping baby in her arms.

"I think that we have made all the right choices… we're headed to school in the fall, and when that is done, we're going to get married, start our dreams and start our family."

"Isn't a family part of our dreams?"

"Seeing you hold my sister the way you are, and knowing what a wonderful mother you would have been to our little girl if given the chance makes me want it more and more."

"Me too."

--

Okay, there is part three folks. What are we thinking? The drama is about to begin really, and we are doing good so far. I like Leyton fluff a lot, but please tell me if I'm giving you too much of it, okay? I'm sure that there are people who… gasp… may not like the fluffy Leyton as much as I do, but honestly, with the lack of good seventh season happiness, I can't help but want the fluff back!

Also... thank to my rogue reviewer, sneaking online to read the fic... I totally dig that. And anyone else out there... seriously, shoot me a message, cause it is fun to hear what people are thinking bout my fics... and with this one, it is totally done, I'm just posting chapter by chapter every other day or so to give y'all something to read. However, I have been inspired by some friends, so I'm thinking of starting another one pretty soon, and finishing And it Lasted Through the Years... maybe a flash forward moment for that one.

Read and Review!!


	4. The Search For Answers

Just a few weeks later they were down on campus moving into the house that they had decided would be theirs. Already they could tell that their situation wasn't as typical as most, driving by parties already being had before the school year even started.

"So, we thought that you guys would like this room cause then Jamie's room is right next to ours and you guys don't have to hear that all night. There's only a toilet in your bathroom though, so we'll have to figure out the whole shower idea before the school year starts. I also put calendars up for everyone so we can mark down meetings and classes that we have just in case something comes up and we need to locate anyone." Haley says quickly, causing Lucas and Peyton to cover their mouths to keep from laughing.

"Dude… don't laugh… it ends badly." Nathan says, coming up behind the pair being lectured by his wife and carrying boxes in from the outside.

"No, it's nice, Haley, thank you!" Peyton says, smiling and wrapping her hands around the girl that would soon be her sister in law.

Hours later, they were sitting around a pizza and laughing like they were back at home again.

"This is going to be a great year, I can already tell. The only thing that we haven't figured out is Jamie." Haley says, taking a slice of pizza in her hands.

"What do you mean?" Lucas asks.

"We can't find anyone to watch him during the day, and Nathan has practice, so it's proving to be—"

"We can watch him." Peyton says simply, picking up a piece of pizza.

"What?"

"Well, I noticed from your handy calendars on the fridge that I don't have early classes like you do on most days, so I can watch him until someone else comes home. And on the days that we are just shuffling breaks around, we can cart him off to the next person. It might be hard the first few weeks, but I'm sure we can handle it." She replies, appearing to think the whole thing out in her head.

"Jamie isn't your responsibility, you guys don't have to do that."

"But he is our nephew, and I would hate for him to be with random people when he can just be with us." Peyton says, bringing the logic back into the situation.

Haley turns to Nathan with a look on her face that is clearly asking him if he thinks it's okay right when Jamie decides that he wants to wake up for his evening feeding and diaper change.

"See, he's calling for his Aunt Peyton right now." She says, getting up and moving to the other room to get the upset infant.

"I'll go grab her the bottle and let you guys think about it… but she's right. It will save you the money from having to hire someone and after we get used to it, it might be a better deal anyway." Lucas says, shrugging his shoulder before walking into the kitchen and then down the hall into Jamie's nursery.

He finds her at the tail end of changing a diaper and tickling the little boy for a smile. Zipping up his sleep suit and pulling him back up to his chest, she turned and stuck her hand out for the bottle that she somehow knew was going to be there.

When she settled into feeding him was when he had to bring up the question lingering in his head. "Are you sure that you're okay with this?"

"He's our nephew and it's Haley and Nathan… we can't leave them in the lurch like that. I'm okay, Lucas."

"You're sure?"

She looks up from the baby to meet his eyes before replying, "I know that I freaked out before, and I'll admit that this could be us, but it's what we're dealt. We can help them out and our nephew will learn that he is a very loved little baby boy… and I get my baby fix."

He laughs at that always marveling at women and that idea that even his best friend threw around often with having to have a baby fix every now and then.

A few minutes later, the bottle was done, the baby was burped and the baby was asleep once again. So, they made their way back into the living room to see Nathan and Haley quietly munching on their pizza.

"So?"

"We think that it really is a great idea, and if you guys are willing to help us out, then that'll be great. But if it gets to be too hard, and if we start not being able to do it right, then we have to say something and get some outside help, okay?" Nathan says, showing the growth that he's had in the past few years from an egotistical basketball player to a good man and father.

"And we want you to know that we only hesitated because the two of you didn't sign on for a baby. You didn't get pregnant and have a kid so you could worry about diapers and craziness. We don't want you two to think that the only reason we wanted to share a house with you was for instant babysitting."

The statement hit Peyton hard, hearing Haley basically spell out what had happened to them in such a way that made it feel like it never happened. It did, and they wouldn't share that for a long time, but that statement stung.

"We get it…" she says in a near sad tone, but then tries to brighten up for appearances, "and now, I'm exhausted from all this moving, and I've really lost my appetite, so I'm going to get some shut eye." She says, getting up quickly and heading towards their bedroom.

Haley didn't know what to make of that, so she turns to Lucas after watching Peyton walk out of the room. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No! Peyton just hits a point after a long day where she needs to jet and she needs sleep. I'm hitting that point too, so I'm going to turn in as well. Thanks for the moving help, guys."

"Night" Haley and Nathan call out to Lucas' retreating form sensing that there was something more, but not knowing what it could possibly be.

As the school year got closer and the orientations were attended and people were met, it finally hit the group that they were in college. Peyton was doing a double major in business and art, Lucas in journalism, Nathan in exploratory, and Haley in secondary education. All the sudden they were like grown ups, having to make decisions about what they were going to do in the future.

That part was kind of hard for the four of them though, meeting all these people who were their age that went wide-eyed when they mentioned that one of the couples was married and the other engaged. When they found out that the baby they also had came a lot later than the wedding, the eyebrows rose even higher. They knew their futures for the most part. They knew who they were going to be with and that is the hardest part about growing up… knowing who your other half was going to be. The school part and the vocation was just a matter of finding the right fit.

One day, a few months into the school year, Lucas found out that Peyton had thought through a lot more than her own future plans.

"What's this?" Haley says, looking down at an envelope addressed to Lucas.

His heart rate sped up just a little bit, thinking that it was a letter from the Baleys updating them on Sawyer, but then she filled in the blank herself, "It's from a publishing company…"

"What?" he says, taking the envelope from her, and seeing the return address as a publishing company out in New York.

Opening it, he read over the letter, finding out that while they didn't have the capabilities of publishing his novel at the time, they took the opportunity to pass it on to a few other publishing houses they did business with.

"What does it say?"

He doesn't respond for a moment, which she can't stand, making her rip the letter out of his hands before he has the chance to get it away from her.

"Your novel? What novel?"

"I just wrote something a while back and I showed it to Peyton. She must have sent it out."

"Okay, seriously though? How did I not know that my best friend wrote a novel?! I have to read it!" she says, allowing herself to get a little excited about the whole idea.

"No! I mean you can't. I wasn't even going to think about publishing it until after school."

"You mean after four years of college!? No, Peyton was right sending it out… and what do you mean I can't read it!"

"You just can't. It just has some stuff that… you just can't."

"She can't what?" Peyton says, walking in the door and hearing the tail end of the conversation.

"Lucas won't let me read his novel…" Haley says, turning to Peyton, who had now grown very quiet.

"You told her about the novel?"

"You were the one who sent it out to publishers."

"Yeah, because I think that you needed to know that it was worth something more than just me."

"Like it is worth your best friend reading it?"

Then it was Peyton's turn, "No!"

Haley looked at her with wide eyes then, not understanding what could possibly be in this book that could cause the two of them to flip out the way they were. "Okay… what the hell is going on?"

"Nothing, Hales. I just don't want anybody reading my novel right now… some random publisher is okay, but not the people that know me, know us."

"And why are you so bent out of shape?" she asks, turning towards Peyton.

"There are just some things in there about me that I would care to not have out in the open, and I know that Lucas doesn't want anyone to read a lot of what he wrote."

Haley sets her lips in a fine line before turning back towards she and Nathan's room, "Fine."

When it was just the two of them again, Lucas started, "She's not going to give up now, you realize that."

"How did she even find out about it?"

"A publishing house sent me a letter."

"Really?"

"It was kind of a rejection letter."

"Define kind of?" she asks, confused as to how it could not definitely be that.

"Well, they said that they didn't have anything there, but sent it off to a few others that did business with them."

"Luke, that's great!"

"Speaking of which, how many other publishing houses did you send it to?"

"Honestly, I don't even remember, but it was a lot of publishing places in New York and a few that Sire dealt with in Los Angeles. I thought that I was helping." She says, walking up to stand in front of him and placing her hands on his shoulders. "I'm sorry."

"No, I love you for doing that, I just wish that you would have told me so I could get the mail first. I thought it was a letter from the Baleys."

"Our last one was just a few weeks ago, so that wouldn't make any sense." She says, frowning.

"I know, I was just thinking... but you know I love you, right?"

"I do. And you know I love you too, right?"

"Definitely clear on that."

"Good." She says, kissing along his jaw before they were interrupted by Nathan coming in to find out why his wife was so ticked off.

After convincing Haley that it just wasn't time for the novel to be public, she let down her guard, apologizing for her behavior. Then it was all smooth sailing for a while. They had made it through the fall, getting themselves all settled in perfectly and deciding that this was definitely the place to spend the next four years. Even during finals, it was a great place to call home, and they were thankful that their unique situations led them out of a dorm room for the first year of school like most freshman.

When Christmas came and went, Peyton found herself more anxious than normal, which Lucas of course picked up on and mentioned on their road trip back to school.

"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Nothing is bothering me." She says, more clipped than any other conversation with her.

"Really…" he says with a know-it-all air about his voice as he focused on Haley and Nathan's car ahead of them on the way back.

"I'm just wondering why we haven't heard from them. I mean last year we got a Christmas card and pictures, and this year we get nothing?"

"You're worried about Sawyer?"

"Yes, just because it's been over two months and we haven't heard anything."

"Maybe they didn't know when our breaks and everything were and wanted to make sure they knew where to send it. If they sent it to your house in Tree Hill at the wrong time, you wouldn't see it for months, and if they sent it to the house at school, then they knew we wouldn't see it for a month. They wouldn't want that to happen."

The explanation seemed accurate, and knowing the Baleys, that would make perfect sense for them. Last Christmas they knew where Lucas and Peyton were, Tree Hill. This year they could be in Tree Hill or at Gilmore, so it made sense for them to not send anything out. The explanation led her through the next few weeks, until a month had passed and the explanation made no sense.

"Can we call them?" she asks one morning, while they are lying in bed.

"If that will ease your worry, then yes."

"You mean you aren't worried?"

"I'm confused, but I'm not worried. We chose a great couple Peyton, we knew that they would take care of her, so there is no reason to worry."

"I'm calling this afternoon."

"Why not right now? It's after ten, they should be up, and I know that you're going to freak out until you hear one of their voices."

She smiles at him before kissing him square on the lips and reaching over him for her cell phone. Dialing the number that they had given for emergencies, she waited on the line. When she hung up, her eyes were unreadable, which was a rare thing.

"Peyton?"

"They say that the number is disconnected. Why would it say that it was disconnected?"

"Maybe the line is down or something."

She doesn't say anything, just gets out of bed, starting to toss clothes haphazardly away and pulling out something she deemed clean.

"Peyton, what are you doing?"

"Lucas, what if they took her? What if they are gone, and they didn't want us to know? Where could they be? Where is Sawyer?" she says, starting to get more and more frazzled as she pulls on clothes, clinging to Lucas when he grabs her mid rant to let her cry on his shoulder.

"I'll get my clothes on and we'll drive up there today, okay? We are probably freaking out about nothing, Peyton, you know that."

She nods, absentmindedly, not convinced that the worry is unfounded, but loving him for trying to calm her down.

Just ten minutes later they were in the car after leaving a note for Haley and Nathan, and two hours later, they were pulling up to a house that they had only seen in pictures.

Walking up the steps, Peyton knew that something wasn't right. Something was wrong. Something was about to happen, and she would have absolutely no control.

After knocking, the door opened to a younger man, whom they had never seen before.

"Um, excuse me sir, we are looking for the Baleys?" Lucas says, noting how the man's face changed when he mentioned the name.

"This is their house, right?" Peyton asks, hoping that maybe they just had the wrong place.

"It is… I'm just the renter for now… umm… did you know them?"

"Yes, actually. They stopped contacting us a few months back and we were coming to find out if anything was the matter." Luke says, knowing now that Peyton was right all along. There was something wrong here.

"Come inside." He says, gesturing at the couple, who stood still on the front porch.

"We'd rather not… can you tell us where they are?" Peyton says, grabbing onto Lucas' hand before hearing his reply.

"It's a shame actually. From what I heard, they were a beautiful family. They got into a bad accident after a freeze. They say it was instantaneous."

Lucas' eyes were broken then, not knowing how to process what he had heard. Peyton's tears were falling silently down her cheeks, not needing words to express to anyone how she was feeling.

"But…" she says, just above a whisper before turning into Lucas.

"I'm sorry…

--

Okay, that was that chapter, but don't worry, I promise that there is more. What could possibly be more? Well, I guess you'll have to wait and find out next week when I post the next chapter.

Read and Review… tell me what you're thinking.


	5. You Choose the Version

"That's okay… umm… do you know where the three of them are? Or do you know who we could contact to find out about the services that were held or which cemetery they are resting in?"

"I'm sure I could find that out for you, but you say three?"

"Richard, Joanne, and their daughter." Lucas says, confused by the man's confusion, which causes Peyton to look up at Lucas and then to the man for a glimmer of hope.

"It was my understanding that the little girl survived, actually. She wasn't in the car. Everyone says that it was a miracle, but so sad because her parents were gone."

"She's okay? Where is she?" Peyton asks, almost frantically.

"I don't know any of that… um… I can get you in touch with the neighbor. She knew them very well. She was actually the one who helped me with the renting, saying that they didn't have any family to rely on for that."

"Is the baby with the neighbor then?"

"I don't think so… is there a reason why you—"

"We're her parents. At least her biological parents. The Baleys adopted our daughter, and when they stopped sending their updates, we knew that something was wrong."

"Oh, I'm so sorry… Let me call over there to see if she is home."

He leaves them just for a moment, which was a moment that the pair needed with each other more than anything.

"Lucas… God." She says, burying her face in his chest and letting out a few sobs in the process.

"I know. I know… but she's okay."

A few minutes later, the gentleman comes to the door, this time with a coat on, gesturing for them to follow him next door.

When they arrive, the woman instantly knows who they are, surprising both Lucas and Peyton.

"JoJo and Rich spoke very highly of the two of you. And I recognized you from the picture in the nursery. The three of you at graduation… such a sweet picture."

"Mrs. Kramer, they weren't aware that the Baleys had passed."

"Oh Lord! I thought for sure that Sawyer would be with you right now." The older woman says, with a furrowed brow.

"She isn't. The only reason why we came was because we didn't get anything of an update from them for Christmas. It had been about four months since our last letter, which was surprising."

"That is… they were always so excited to share everything with the two of you. They really appreciated what you did for them."

Peyton smiles at that, knowing that the heart of those people had been pure gold, "And we appreciated every opportunity that they ended up giving us, and all that they did for our daughter."

"Sawyer was with me the night of the accident, and she stayed with me for a few days before a woman from Social Services came to get her. I assumed that she would be given to the two of you, so I didn't ask. I'm so sorry that I didn't ask."

"Was it possible that they didn't know she was adopted?"

"I don't see how. They were very proud of the two of you for giving her up. They never took credit, just saying that Sawyer had two sets of parents. That was how they told her too. I can give you the number of the Social Services person who came. She gave me her card just in case I remembered anything that would be of any help. The Baleys didn't have any family aside from themselves. Very odd in these days, but not a living soul to their name."

"If you could give us that card, that would be very helpful… everything you've said has been very helpful, thank you." Lucas says, standing up to shake the woman's hand.

After getting the card and getting the number of both people who had helped them that day, they were on the road back to Gilmore.

"We have to find her." Peyton says, more sure of it than anything else in the world.

"We will. We'll call the woman on Monday, first thing."

"Why does it have to be Saturday?" she says, nearing a whine.

"We can't change that, we just have to wait. I'll skip classes on Monday and if we have to, we will drive up to this woman's office to find out where she is. Until then, we can't worry."

The tears start to fall then, "Lucas, we gave her to them because we wanted to know the people who would raise her and love her… and now, she is with someone that we don't even know. She could be in a home with ten other kids. We don't know where she is!" she says, screaming near the end.

Sensing the break down, by the end of her rant, he had pulled over to the side of the road, letting her head fall to his shoulder.

"We are going to find her, Peyton. We'll find her, and we'll bring her home."

She looks up then, "Really?"

He nods, "If she can't be with them, then she will be with us."

"No judge is going to grant custody to a couple of eighteen-almost-nineteen year olds who gave their daughter up a year and a half ago in the first place. We have no jobs, we're in school, we're not married…"

"I'll get a part time job, school is something that anyone would be proud of us for doing, and we could get married sooner if that's what it takes. Either way, she's coming home with us."

Peyton lets her curls bounce in a small nod as she thinks through the situation that they were in, "What are we going to tell everybody."

"I think that we need to focus on making sure that she is okay and getting her home before we open up that can of worms. Either way, we're going to have to tell Nathan and Haley first. We might need to get our own place to live for the next few years too."

"Okay… Monday morning…" she says, letting out a breath that she wasn't aware she was holding.

When they arrived home, it was already late afternoon, Jamie was asleep and Nathan and Haley were reading… Nathan reading playbooks and Haley studying for her literature class.

"Geez. When you guys said that you had an errand, we didn't know that you'd be gone all day!" Haley says, looking up from her book as they walk in the door.

Peyton and Lucas just smiled a small smile, only to acknowledge her before retreating to their bedroom for some more alone time.

An hour later, when she heard Peyton get into the shower, Haley found herself knocking on their bedroom door. "Luke?"

Not hearing anything, she opened the door to see him on the bed reading for the same class she had just been studying for. He didn't look up, which troubled her, so she just sat down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you going to tell me what's up?" she asks, simply.

He looks at her then, the stress apparent in his eyes. "We can't talk about it now, but give us a few days."

"Are the two of you okay? Is there something wrong?"

"We're fine, but something has come up… and… can we just leave you and Nathan on alert for a few days?"

"And after a few days?"

"We'll probably have to tell you everything then anyways."

"Luke, you're scaring me." She says, growing more concerned by the fact that he was being more cryptic than not.

"Peyton and I are fine. Everything is going to be fine. There are just some things that we need to tell you guys, and we don't know how to do that yet… mainly because we don't know how you guys are going to react."

"You know that no matter what, we are here for you guys. No matter what."

"We know."

She nods, "Okay."

After a few moments of silence, she realizes that they obviously need some normalcy in their day.

"What do you say, you come out in the living room and we study for a little bit longer, then we watch some basketball, order a pizza, and do a game night? Does Peyton have stuff to work on?"

Peyton walks in then, hearing the tail end of the conversation, "Peyton can work for an hour or so and be good for pizza, basketball, and games." She says with a smile that was the first all day.

Haley stands up then, declaring it a game night and telling Lucas to grab his things and meet her in the living room. Before leaving though, she grabs Peyton into a hug, "No matter what, we love you guys. When you're ready, we're here."

"Thanks, Hales." Peyton says, returning the hug.

The game night goes by with the girls beating the boys in two out of the three games played, the third being NBA live on Playstation, which the girls let them pick because they knew an ego boost was needed. Then the weekend went by without any more issues until Sunday night, when both Lucas and Peyton were tossing and turning all night.

They had already looked up the times that the office would be open, so they knew exactly when they were to call, and were thankful that Deb had shown up as a surprise to take Jamie for the day and see Nathan and that Haley had classes all morning.

Picking up the phone, Lucas was a bundle of nerves, even though they had decided that it was probably a wiser idea for him to call rather than Peyton, who was more jumpy than he was.

"Hello, I'm looking to speak to a Lisa Walters?"

"_Can I tell her who is calling?"_

"Yes, this is Lucas Scott, I had a few questions about a case that she had worked on."

"_Okay, let me transfer you to her line."_

"Thank you." He says just before the sound of muzak fills his ears, that really bad sounding instrumental stuff that probably would have made Peyton's skin crawl if she had to listen for any period of time.

"_This is Lisa."_

"Hello Mrs. Walters, my name is Lucas Scott, and I got your card from a Miss Kramer."

"_I don't recall the name, but what can I help you with."_

"In short, we gave our daughter Sawyer up for adoption a year and a half ago to a couple who recently passed away. It was an open adoption in which we were very close to the couple, and we found out because we stopped receiving an update from them. Miss Kramer had kept her for a few days, and then she was apparently taken into your care. We need to know where our daughter is Mrs. Walters."

"_Was this just a few months ago? The Baley family?"_

"Yes. They didn't have any surviving relatives though, which is obviously why we are so concerned."

"_I was not aware that the child was adopted, we weren't given any information about that."_

"Well, she was… so where is she?"

"_I can't give out that information."_

"We are her parents!" he says, louder than he had hoped it to come out.

"_Mr. Scott, you are her biological parents, but from what you just told me, you gave her up for adoption, waiving any rights you have to her. That means that legally, you are not her parents, which also means that I can not give you any information."_

"Then you need to direct me to someone who can give me that information."

"_Since I was not made aware of the adoption, I'm going to need the name of who you worked with. What agency and what lawyer you did business with. Once I have paperwork in front of me, I will be able to release information. You said that it was an open adoption, which means nothing is sealed. If that is true, then I can give you that information. If not, then I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to help you."_

He sighs in frustration, which causes Peyton's worried gaze to begin to border on defeat. "We worked with the Eastern NC Adoption Agency, and the lawyer for both sides was a Mr. Alan Ward. Do you need his contact information?"

"_If you have that available for me, that would help me greatly."_

"My fiance is grabbing the file, so hold on one moment…. 345-591-3347. Is there anything else that we can do that is going to speed this up?"

"_Right now, all that you can do is wait. I don't know if I'm going to get all the access I need today, but I will make sure that I call you regardless by tomorrow afternoon. What number should I call?"_

He thinks for a moment, remembering that Peyton had a pretty light Tuesday schedule, "You're going to contact my fiancé, Peyton Sawyer, who is the birth mother." He says, then gives her the number.

"_I'll see what I can do Mr. Scott."_

He doesn't reply, instead choosing to hang up after she told him that she was going to be searching out the information.

"So they can't tell you anything?"

"They can't tell us anything because of legal issues, but they're going to talk to the lawyer on the adoption. He knew the Baley's very well, and I'm sure that he'll be able to get us some information. I'm going to call him to make sure he is aware of the situation, let him know what's coming."

"That's a good idea… when did she say that we were going to know anything?"

"She's going to call no matter what by tomorrow afternoon, so we just have to wait until then."

"Lucas." She says with an impatient tone explaining that she is sick of this waiting game that they are playing.

"I know, but right now it is out of our hands. I think that even if we went down there or called again, it would just frustrate this woman. We have to wait."

And so they waited. Nothing came that evening, but they hadn't been expecting it to, and when the morning came, Peyton insisted that Lucas go to classes in the morning. She had Haley there and they were probably not going to hear anything until later in the day anyway.

When a knock came on the front door, Peyton was changing Jamie's diaper after she and Haley had breakfast. Lucas was in class and Nathan was at the gym. When Haley opened the door, she opened it to a younger man, probably in his early thirties.

Peyton turned around to ask Haley who it was when she saw a man she hadn't seen in over a year standing next to her friend who was looking a little white, "Umm… he's here to see you and Lucas. He says that it's about your daughter?" she says almost asking a question at the end of the introduction.

"Mr. Ward… it's nice to see you again." She steps forward, shaking the man's hand.

Handing Jamie back to his mother, she asks Haley to give them a minute, which she did… still with a shocked look taking over her features.

"It's nice to see you too Peyton, is Lucas here?"

"He's in class right now, but I can call him out…"

"You don't need to do that, I just wanted to talk to you for a few minutes."

"Did the woman from Social Services call you?"

"She did, and I have to apologize Peyton. It was my fault that this happened the way it did… I moved away from the area and I thought that someone from my office would have dealt with everything in a timely manner."

"What did you come here to say?"

"You are aware that I was a good friend of the Baleys'. It was very hard to find out that they had passed."

"Yes." She says, sensing that there was a lot more that he had to say.

"They loved you and Lucas as if you were family, Peyton. You gave them something that they never thought they could have, and I promise you that they were thankful for you every single day." He says, and she nods in acknowledgment before he continues, "They didn't think that this was going to happen so early on, but they made it very clear in their will, which they had made after Sawyer came into the picture, that she was to go back to you and Lucas if anything were to ever happen to them. I thought that this would have been dealt with, and I'm sorry for what has happened, but it is going to be fixed."

"You mean we're getting her back?" she says with a hopeful glimmer in her eye.

"Legally she should be yours."

"Should be?"

"Since Social Services is already involved, they still want to be involved. You two are still very young, and they have doubts about giving Sawyer back to the couple that gave her up in the first place."

"We didn't have a—"

"Peyton, Joanne used to tell me that she knew that someday you and Lucas were going to get married and realize that you wanted your daughter back, that you were going to be ready for her."

"We wouldn't have ever taken her away from them."

He regards her for a moment then, the maturity in her statement and the obvious care she had for the family and her daughter, "I know that, but you need to understand that while you do have the right to your daughter, Social Services is going to make you jump through a few hoops first."

"I think that we were prepared for that. What hoops are we going to have to jump through?"

"That is going to be for her to decide. I already spoke with her this morning, telling her that I was coming over here to explain that to you. She told me that she was talking to Sawyer's foster parents today, and then was going to set up a time for you two to come down and see her. After that, she's going to set up visits before Sawyer can come live here, but honestly, Peyton," he says, looking around at a house that was immaculately clean thanks to Haley, baby proofed thanks to Nathan, and everything that was right, "I don't see why her coming here would hinder anything. It looks like you guys are doing just fine."

"When do you think that we're going to hear from her?"

"I would guess sometime this afternoon she will call you with more details, but if you run into any other issues, you let me know." He says, handing her a card.

She looked down, noting that the new address of the firm was in New York, and smiling before walking him to the door.

"Mr. Ward?"

"Yes?" he says, turning around after walking down the walkway just a bit.

"What time did you get up this morning?"

"Peyton, they were great people, and they loved the two of you. I would have done anything for them and their child, so I will do anything for you and that child too."

"Thank you." She says, watching him get into the cab that was waiting in their driveway.

She stood at the door for a minute after closing it, knowing that once she walked back into the house, that it was going to be a harder situation than she had anticipated that morning.

She found Haley in Jamie's room, watching over his sleeping form, making sure he was down for his afternoon nap. "He's so angelic when he's sleeping." She whispers, coming to stand next to her.

"He is." She says quietly.

"Should we talk?" Peyton asks, not knowing exactly how to approach this situation.

"Do you want to?" Haley replies, understanding that this must have been what Lucas was referring to this past weekend.

"I think that we should."

When they sit down, the silence is deafening. While they hadn't been the best of friends until a few years ago, they always found it easy with each other. She was going to marry her best friend and they were going to be sisters-in-law… it was something that they looked forward too. It would just add more to their already strong and growing friendship, but Peyton was worried that this might burn more than just the bridge between she and Haley, but also between Lucas and Haley and Lucas and Nathan.

They couldn't avoid it any longer, "So, do you want the long version or the short version, because I have the time for either."

"I want the version that explains why there was a man at the door telling me that he was coming to talk about your daughter that I didn't know you had. I want the version that explains how I wasn't aware that you were ever pregnant. I want the version that explains why this has been kept a secret for however long it has been."

"A year and a half."

"What? How?"

"The summer between Junior and Senior year… you were on tour, Nathan was out of his mind and went to high flyers, Brooke was in California, my dad was at sea, and Karen was in New Zealand. That was when we had her."

"You were pregnant Junior year?"

She nods, to which Haley's eyes grow even wider in confusion.

"You guys have always said that I was too skinny for my own good. I didn't show until later on, and by the time I did start to show a little bit, it was the end of the year, and everybody was too distracted to notice."

"I just can't believe that you were pregnant… then what happened?"

"Luke and I decided that being the daughter to two high school students who were in a newer relationship, who had two single parents, one of which was never around, couldn't raise a baby. We wanted to finish high school and get into college. We had dreams, and we knew that she would have dreams too. She might not have gotten what she needed if we kept her."

"So you just gave her up?" Haley says, more shocked at that than the fact that Peyton had been pregnant at all.

"Haley…"

"No, I just can't picture the two of you giving up your child… not with the way you talk about having a family… it doesn't make—"

"Stop! This is why we never told anyone. We didn't want it to be their decision; we wanted it to be ours. We picked a great family, and they loved her, and they sent us updates every few months, and we got to see her a few times, and we got to see her growing up. We don't regret what we did, Haley, and we don't want to be judged by it now."

"I didn't mean it like that… it's just…"

"I know… but we weren't at the same place as you and Nathan. We were worse off. You guys were married, we were at the very end of high school…"

"And we had no money, Nathan decided to point shave, and our parents were MIA too."

Peyton sends a glare her way, "Maybe we weren't as strong as you, but we were younger, and it was the hardest decision we ever made."

"Wait… the family at graduation… what was the little girl's name… Elizabeth?"

"Her name is actually Sawyer. Sawyer Elizabeth Baley. They wanted to come to graduation. They knew that Karen and dad weren't going to make it, so they came instead. Told us that Sawyer wanted to congratulate her mom and dad."

"She's beautiful."

Peyton smiles then, finally hearing those words from one of her closest friends, talking about her daughter. "Thank you."

"And now? Why is all of this coming back up? Who was that man that came by."

"He was the adoption lawyer we used when we did the adoption with the Baleys."

Haley's eyes go wide for a second, "Wait, are you pregnant again? Is that why he was here?"

"No! He's here because we found out last weekend that they passed away and Sawyer went into foster care. He informed us that it was a mistake and the Baleys had wanted us to have her if anything happened to them. So, we're waiting on Social Services to contact us."

"To contact you about getting her back."

"We want her with us. If she isn't with them, then we need her here."

"Okay." Haley says with a note of finality to her voice.

"That's it?"

"What am I supposed to say, Peyton? I told the two of you that no matter what, we would support you."

"Did you imagine that it would be something like this?" Peyton says with an almost sarcastic tone.

"Not in a million years… not from you two." She says laughing.

"I'm sorry, you know?"

"I get needing your space. That's why it took me so long to tell everyone about Jamie."

"It was so hard not talking about it. Right after it happened, all I wanted was my girlfriends around me. I needed that, but I couldn't say anything. And then when you were pregnant, you would say something and all I could think about was being pregnant again. When you complained, I wanted to be able to tell you that I had been there, that I had gone through it and survived, but I couldn't. The year after… senior year… was just as hard as the day we gave her up…" Peyton says, letting the tears fall for a few minutes, before looking up to see Haley with a smile on her face. "What?"

"Well, I know now… tell me about her… tell me everything." Haley says, placing a hand on her friend's knee to show that she meant what she said.

"Really?"

"I want to hear everything."

--

Okay, so that was a long one, but I hope that you liked it. I was definitely never toying with killing off Sawyer, because she makes the whole fic. I also hope that you like the Haley and Lucas and Haley and Peyton moments. Let's see where the rest comes in.

Read and Review… it's cool.


	6. You Did It On Your Own

When Nathan and Lucas came home an hour later, all they saw were the two girls sitting in the living room and crying. Peyton only had to look at Lucas to convey the fact that Haley knew everything, which resulted in Haley standing up and embracing her best friend.

"What the hell is going on?" Nathan says, confused by the tears and the embrace.

"We've got to talk little brother." Lucas says, pulling away from Haley and putting a hand on Nathan's shoulder.

In the next hour or so, the couple shared the rest of everything with Nathan and Haley, including everything that Peyton had learned that afternoon from the lawyer.

"So, you guys have a kid that you gave up for adoption and now she's going to be back with you?" Nathan says, still trying to wrap his head around the idea of the two of them having a baby together.

"If everything goes well, then yes." Lucas says, putting his hand on Peyton's to show their solidarity.

"Okay." Nate says, standing up and making his way to Jamie's room, which confused everyone considering Jamie was already in the living room.

Peyton was the one following him, understanding that Lucas needed some best friend time with Haley, and playing on the odd, close bond that she shared with her soon to be brother in law.

"You worried the baby's yours?" Peyton says, walking into the room with a smile on her face and a giggle in her throat.

"Not funny. And no."

"What's up, Scott?"

"Well, I don't know, Sawyer… I just found out that the two of you had a kid that you apparently forgot to tell us about." He says, moving furniture around, which was doing nothing but confusing Peyton.

"Nathan, we just needed the space. We couldn't have everyone finding out about this." She says, watching him move more around, and noticing how he wasn't responding to her anymore. "You were in a bad place at the time anyways Nathan. Haley had just left for tour, you wanted nothing to do with anyone at the time."

He still didn't say anything, just turned to look at her before moving some more things around in the room.

"Nathan, what the hell are you doing?" she finally asks, after not getting anything out of him otherwise.

"Sawyer's only a year and a half old. She's going to need a crib, and she's gonna need space, so we've got to get some of this stuff out of the way."

She teared up at that. She knew that they were going to take some time to get used to everything, but deep down Haley and Nathan Scott were some of the most understanding people in the world. All she could do was hug him.

"We'll try to get out of your hair as soon as we can."

"Why?" he asks, shrugging his shoulders, "we can make it work with two kids. They can share a room for a while, and we can help you guys out with Sawyer just like you helped us out with Jamie. The kid is going to have to be spoiled by her Uncle Nathan… I lost out on a few milestones, so I've got to make sure that I beat Luke out for the Uncle of the Year Award."

Then she was back to hitting him, in that way that meant that she loved him so much that it made her thankful for every moment.

"What would you have done if I would have said she was yours…"

"Beg Haley for forgiveness?"

"Nice." She says, laughing while helping him shift some things around in the room.

The next few days were fraught with confusing schedules, meetings, and conversations that neither thought that they would be having. Social Workers came to the house to make sure the living situation was ideal, people interviewed Nathan and Haley, they lectured Lucas and Peyton, and they had yet to see their daughter… or tell anyone outside of Nathan and Haley about the recent developments.

"We've got to call your mom… maybe she can come up sometime this week?"

"If we're calling my mom, then we're calling your dad too… isn't he back from the last drudging expedition."

"Maybe?"

"I think that we need to tell them together Peyton… then we can't get both parent lectures at the same time, and both freak outs at the same time too."

This was the only thing that they could think about as they waited in the office for Lisa to get back to them with an answer as to when they were going to get to see Sawyer. Just as they debated on when they were going to have Karen and Larry come into the seen, she came to get them, directing them down the hallway to a set of rooms. There was a couple standing outside the door with a young girl and young boy circling around them.

"This is the Millers. They have been fostering Sawyer for the past month or so. They brought her here for you to see her."

As they look past the family, they see an open room that was meant for children, with toys and colorful walls. And in the center there was a little girl, toddling about, exploring her surroundings.

"She's been a good girl, but I understand the circumstances and getting her back to you." The older woman says as she sees Peyton's eyes widen at the sight of her daughter.

Lucas steps in and thanks the couple for taking such good care of her before they even open the door to the small room that held their daughter.

She was distracted at first, finding a new toy and then looking around for a place to hide it from anyone that might take it back away from her. She didn't even notice them walk in the door until Peyton called out her name as she kneeled on the carpet behind her.

Sawyer turned and looked confused for a moment before smiling in Peyton's direction and then seeing Lucas positioned behind her. "Up?" she asks more in question than anything.

Peyton nods, holding out her arms for the little girl and picking her up. They were familiar faces to her, being shown the young pair's picture every night before bed, and having met them once before at the graduation, but she still hesitated before giving in and walking up to the younger woman for a hug.

Lucas then kneels down next to them, letting Peyton hold onto the little girl and rock her close for a while before directing her attention to him, causing her to give a sleepy smile in his direction before closing her eyes.

"She knows us." Luke says, almost amazed at the idea.

"Miss Kramer said that even when she would babysit, they told her to show her the picture. The one of us at graduation with her, so she could know who we were always."

"She's beautiful."

"She is…"

"We always have this conversation." He says, laughing at them always coming back to those same words.

She laughs a little with him, not wanting to wake the sleeping girl in her arms. "Are we going to be okay with this? Can we do this?"

"A few years ago, when you got pregnant, I said that we couldn't. We can now, Peyton. We have Haley and Nathan to help us, and we can do this."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure that we aren't going to suck at parenting, no. Sure that we need to do this and can do this, yes."

Apparently they had been in there awhile, so Lisa came back in to explain to them what the next few days would hold, getting her to them, talking about surprise visits and scheduling visits for Social Services to check in on the pair and the baby.

After hugging the little girl and handing her over to her foster family, they whispered her a goodbye and left, knowing that in a few days she would be theirs. This also meant that they needed to talk to some people before it became a moot point… well before it became her living with them and them not understanding anything.

They arranged it for Deb to come up for the day, taking Haley, Nathan, and Jamie away from the chaos that was sure to ensue. Sawyer was coming tomorrow morning, and Karen and Larry had both agreed to come and visit that day with the possibility of staying the evening as well. However, Lucas nor Peyton explained why they asked for the visit or told the other that either would be there.

When the doorbell rang, the second surprise was already over, and they opened the door to Peyton's father with Karen standing beside him, "Look what I found in the driveway." Larry says, trying to be funny.

"I didn't know that we were sharing a day… and shouldn't you guys be in school?" Karen asks, coming into the house and sitting down on the couch in the living room.

"We have the next few days off as a break for mid terms, so we decided that we should have you guys come visit." Lucas says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"And you are doing your nervous gesture, so what do the two of you have to tell us?" Karen says point blank while watching the two get a little pasty.

Larry looks from the older woman to his daughter, noticing how she couldn't keep her hands still, and noticing how they were sharing small glances back and forth.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?" He asks with a hint of know-it-all in his voice.

"You're pregnant!" Karen says, shocked but smiling at the same time.

"No! We aren't pregnant." Peyton says, placing her hands in front of her in a gesture that was screaming for someone to get off that subject.

"Okay… the two of you aren't calling off the wedding, are you?"

"No… in fact we decided that we might move the wedding up." Lucas says, looking to Peyton for a moment before turning his gaze back to his mother.

Karen just raises an eyebrow in her son's direction, "… and she isn't pregnant?"

"Not anymore." Peyton says with a laugh, before realizing that it actually came out of her mouth.

Lucas just turns to her with his mouth wide, and she apologizes with her eyes about the outburst before one of their parents decides to break the silence.

"Okay, now we're just confused." Larry says, trying to make sense out of the statements already made.

"As I asked Haley, do you want the short version or the long version?" Peyton says, turning to face her dad.

"I want it short." He says in a clipped manner that almost throws her as Karen looks on to the father and daughter, wondering what they could possibly have to share.

"In short, we got pregnant Junior year and had the baby when you guys were away that summer. We gave her up for adoption to a great couple. They sent us updates and we got to see her almost a year ago and we've seen her grow up. The couple died a few months back, and we now have custody back, and she'll be here tomorrow, so we hope you can stay and meet your granddaughter." Peyton says in seemingly one breath without looking at either parent.

Karen is the first one to make a move, standing up from the couch to pace around the living room for a few moments before coming back in front of them. "Why didn't you come to us?"

"We wanted to make the decisions on our own. We didn't want anyone telling us what was best for us or for her." Lucas says, looking his mother in the eye in a near challenging way.

"So the two of you had a baby and you didn't tell us? What if something had happened to you, Peyton? What would you have done if you couldn't find someone to adopt her? Were we just going to come home to a cradle in your rooms and say that everything was okay?" Larry says, trying to wrap his head around all of this.

"First of all, we didn't tell anyone about it. Haley and Nathan found out two days ago. Nothing was going to happen to me because I saw a doctor every time I was supposed to. I took care of myself and Lucas was taking care of me too. If we would have decided to keep her, we would have called the both of you home and we would have talked about what we wanted to do. And we would have hoped that you supported any decision that we decided to make." Peyton replies, answering each of Larry's issues.

Her father stands up for a moment, looking around the room for something to help him through this. Obviously finding nothing, he makes his way to the door and Peyton hears his old car start up in the driveway.

Karen hasn't moved from her spot on the couch, not knowing how to react, but knowing that she didn't want to walk out on the two of them.

"You did this on your own?"

The young couple nods, not understanding where this was going.

"You went to doctors appointments every month, you found a family to raise her, you had a child, and you watched her grow up from afar… on your own." She says, and Lucas was starting to understand that his mother wasn't saying these things in an accusatory way, just trying to process all the information before reacting. "And now, after this little girl's adoptive parents passed away, you fought to get her back?"

"Mom, I know that you're upset with us…"

"I am upset with you for waiting so long to tell us about this, but I am so proud of how you have dealt with everything. You know that I would have supported whatever decision that the two of you made, but I understand that you were young. The two of you obviously had good heads on your shoulders to be able to do what you did though, so I am proud of you."

Peyton and Lucas look at each other and smile then, knowing that they had a lot of fences to mend with Karen and more so with Larry, but glad to hear that their decisions were respected.

"So, when do I get to see my granddaughter?" Karen says with a smile on her face.

Lucas lets the smile on his face reach his eyes, knowing now that his mother was excited about the idea of a new baby around to spoil. "She'll be here tomorrow morning, which is why we had suggested that you guys stay tonight."

"Don't you think that might be too much for her?"

"We thought about that, but we want her to be surrounded with family the first night she is here. You guys may not be staying tomorrow night, but being able to see her is something that we really want to give you. She seems at ease with us, and we were told by the neighbor that our picture was even in the nursery. Honestly, it was like she already knew us." Peyton says, instantly transforming into the mother that Karen knew that she would be someday.

"You've seen her?"

"Her foster family brought her out to the Social Services office the other day and we got to have some time with her. The Baleys made sure that she knew who we were no matter what, and it was like she was just coming home to us as if she was meant to anyways."

"Maybe this is God's way of telling you that she was supposed to be with you." Karen adds, "I know that this family was good to her, and you two needed that time, but in the end, maybe it was meant to be."

They sit for a while in silence, allowing for that processing time once more, and Peyton kept glancing back at the door, expecting her father to come waltzing back in at any time. After about the fourth glance, Karen explained, "It might take him a little bit. It could be an hour from now, and it could be a week from now, but it's going to take him a bit."

"I understand that." Peyton says, quickly nodding her head.

"Now… you said that you got updates? If you'd let me, I'd love to see a picture of her."

Lucas nods, "Peyton, why don't you go get the box, and we can show mom everything."

That was what they did for the next few hours, sharing what they knew about their daughter, and talking about trying to hide the pregnancy from everyone that they knew. Karen was astounded with the way they took everything in, being parents even though their daughter was being raised by someone else.

When they came to the picture of the three of them at graduation, Karen immediately started laughing, finding it quite amusing that the little girl was the spitting image of both her parents. She had Peyton's curls, with Lucas' thin mouth, Peyton's nose, and Lucas' blue eyes. She was the perfect combination of the two of them, and Karen thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. She couldn't help but say it over and over again.

"Karen, I think you may be biased" Peyton says, after she had told her again that Peyton had given her the most beautiful granddaughter in the world.

"Well, that may be true, but it is still a fact." She says, laughing.

Lucas had left to go pick up some dinner, as the hours had flown by. Haley, Nathan, and Jamie weren't due back until after dinner, and Larry was still nowhere to be seen, so the three decided that they needed to grab food on their own.

It was good to have some time alone with Karen though, and Peyton was thankful for the support that she continued to give.

"Honestly, Peyton… ever since you and Lucas started dating, I have known that the two of you would grow up to be what you are today."

Peyton scrunches her nose up, "Really? I don't know if I would have said the same thing."

"Now, I know that is a lie, because the two of you were smitten with each other from the start."

"Yeah, well, that's what led us to our predicament today, now isn't it." Peyton says sarcastically, daring a quick glance at Karen before looking down.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of. Things happen, you were young… I only wish that I could have been there for you."

"Lucas was there, Karen. Every single step of the way, he was there, he was holding my hand. I couldn't have done anything without him. You would have been so proud of him."

"I know that, but a girl needs her mother during something like that, and while I don't assume to replace her, I've always thought of you like a daughter Peyton Sawyer."

"I did wish that I had someone to talk to during the pregnancy. Lucas didn't understand the whole getting fat thing, or the mood swings, and the cravings. He was supportive, but sometimes I wanted to hit him over the head with something."

"Well, I'll admit that there are going to be plenty more times when you are going to want to do that, pregnant or not."

Peyton laughs at this, knowing that she was right, and excited at the prospect of her future with the man that she loved. "Karen?"

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"Can we do this? Can Luke and I raise a baby, finish college, and get married, and get to do all those things that we said that we were going to do?"

"It is going to be hard, but… you're going to do just fine."

--

Okay, so this chapter was a bunch of people finding out, and I hope that you enjoyed it. I feel like Karen would totally be the rational one in the situation, but Larry will hopefully make another appearance soon. Don't worry!

Read and Review…. Let me know what you are liking and not liking.


	7. You Can't Keep It All Hidden

The next day was filled with more than anyone could have thought, with Lisa coming to drop off Sawyer and do some last minute checks around the house. She also met Karen, who assured the woman that she was making the right decision by giving Sawyer back to her birth parents.

Larry Sawyer, however hadn't made his way back into the picture yet, and try as she might, Peyton wasn't able to get ahold of him since he left. Karen explained that he still needed that time, and as soon as he saw the little girl, he would understand everything that the two went through. She also mentioned that she liked all the time she got with her as a result anyway, which made all of them smile.

Later that evening, Karen left, having to get back to Lily, who was being watched by a neighbor, and the whole group was exhausted, including little Sawyer. Lucas insisted that Peyton get some sleep, but was still wide awake for a while before going to bed beside her.

A few hours later, Peyton was awoken by the sound of a baby crying, and knowing it wasn't Jamie, she made her way through the kitchen and living room to the nursery. It was like the instant the baby was in her arms again, she was able to step into that mother role seamlessly.

Sawyer was sitting up in her new crib with tears in her eyes, and seeing Peyton her outstretched arms searched for comfort.

"Oh no, what's wrong baby girl?"

"Mama." She says, clear as day, causing Peyton to stiffen for a moment. That hadn't happened before, and Peyton wondered for a moment if she was thinking of her or Joanne Baley. The moment was short lived when the little girl in her arms whispered the endearment again before slumping her head down on Peyton's shoulder.

Having plenty of practice with Jamie, she changed Sawyer's diaper as Sawyer looked up at her mother through sleepy eyes.

After getting her sleep suit back on, she cuddled her close, taking her out of the room and into the living room, moving towards the window to look out at the night sky, "It has been a very long day Sawyer Elizabeth, and you need to get to sleep. You can't be waking up your cousin in the middle of the night, because he needs his sleep to." She says, shifting the baby so she could see her face for a moment, noting the glassy, droopy eyes. "I'm sure that there is a song to sing, but you'll have to give me a couple weeks to get used to this whole mom thing. Mommy and Daddy have always loved you and have always thought of you, but we haven't gotten to be with you since you were just a tiny little bundle. But now you're here, and we're going to be here for you and love you and take care of you… we just have to learn how."

"You're already doing a great job." A familiar voice whispers from the couch, causing Peyton to turn in her spot and smile.

"When did you get here?"

"Lucas let me in tonight. Apparently you and everyone else fell right asleep, but he couldn't stop thinking."

"I swear he didn't sleep for a month after we found out I was pregnant. He was so worried about me, and he would sneak over in the middle of the night just to make sure that I was okay and that I had everything that I needed."

"I don't think I want to know about Lucas Scott sneaking over in the middle of the night."

"Dad, he is a good man, you know that."

"Peyton, that boy has been the only boy in your life that I have trusted you with. He has pulled you through so many things and I will always be grateful for him. However he did get you pregnant at sixteen."

"And you need to understand that he was there for me. He didn't once even consider stepping out on me, and he was with me for every doctor's appointment. I wouldn't have even been able to deliver her if he hadn't been with me that day in the delivery room. God…" she starts, looking down at the baby she held, and rubbing her back, "I thought that I couldn't do it, and Lucas talked me through it and held my hand. And when the Baleys came back in to let us hold her, he cried with me and he helped me give her away to them."

"I know… and he told me that he couldn't have gotten through any of this without you, so I'm pretty sure that the two of you are made for each other." He says, laughing softly and then taking in the sight of his daughter with a baby on her shoulder, a soothing hand on the infant's back. "Peyton, I'm sorry that I walked out."

"I understand."

"You shouldn't have to. I needed to process everything though. If you had told us you were pregnant, then it would have been a totally different story, but you told us that you hid a pregnancy from us and that we had a granddaughter out there that we didn't even know about."

"We only did it to protect you and ourselves… it was selfish."

"What you and Lucas chose to do was anything but selfish, Peyton. You gave her a chance. That family must have loved that little girl like no other. I know that is exactly how your mom and I felt the day we got you. And I know what it meant for Ellie to have that time with you again."

She waits for a minute, rocking in her spot as she felt the soft breathing of her daughter hit her neck in such a sweet whisper. "So… do you think that we can do this?"

"Yes." He says, without hesitation.

"Well, that's pretty convincing coming from the parent who walked out the second we said something." She says with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Peyton, again… you've got to understand how big of a shock that was. No matter how old you get, you are always going to be my little girl, and the thought of you having your own so young just threw me for a loop. If this happened to Sawyer, how would you react?"

"Well, it isn't going to happen to her, because Lucas is probably going to lock her in her room until she's thirty."

Larry laughs, knowing that the boy would try to do just that, already seeing the beauty of his own daughter in his little granddaughter. "And there you see why I reacted how I did. I thought that you were more responsible than that, so initially I was angry that you had gotten yourself pregnant in the first place. But then I realized that you were responsible in the way you and Lucas handled everything, minus the whole not telling us thing. I had to think it through."

"And?"

"She's beautiful, Peyton. She is absolutely beautiful, and the spitting image of you when you were a baby. You've got a good set up here, and I think that the little girl you've got right there is going to be one loved baby."

She looked at her father with eyes shining, "Thanks dad."

"Now, you should probably put her back down and try to get some sleep. It's probably going to take her some time to get used to everything, so I'm sure that sleep will be few and far between for the next few weeks."

"You're probably right…"

"Night Peyton."

"Goodnight Dad." She says, carefully walking back through the living room and into the nursery to put her daughter down again.

When she got back in bed, Lucas curled into her just a bit, causing her to smile. "Did you see your dad?"

"Yeah. Sawyer woke up and needed some love and a diaper change."

"I'll get her next time okay?"

"No, I've got it… don't worry."

"Peyton, if we're going to do this, we've got to be together. You need sleep just as much as I do."

She turns to him, kissing him square on the lips before pulling back and giving him a smile that communicated her happiness, "You know I love you, don't you?"

"I do." He says, pulling her close to him, letting her head fall to his chest. "I also called Brooke today… she's going to be here next weekend."

"Brooke!" Peyton says, sitting up in bed.

"She's your best friend, Peyton, she needs to know what's going on."

"I know that… I was just avoiding the whole issue."

"You don't think that she'll notice a kid around if she ever comes and visits?"

"No, it's not that, I just don't know how to tell her that. With Haley it was like telling my friend about what happened. Haley and I are close, but Brooke and I have been friends since elementary school. We're more sisters than anything…" she says, with a far off look on her face trying to imagine how this conversation was going to go. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her that we hadn't seen her in a while and that we had some things that we needed to talk to her about."

"Great."

"What?"

"Lucas, Brooke Davis is not one to sit idly by with the phrase 'we need to talk', she's going to know that it's something big. And the fact that it was you who called and not me is really going to tip her off."

He shrugs his shoulders before assuring her that it was all going to be okay and trying to get her to relax, which she did for a few hours before their daughter decided that sleeping was not an option.

"I'm going." Lucas says as Peyton sits up in bed.

"Luke, you can sleep, I've got her."

"What did I tell you?"

She lays back down thinking about their earlier conversation about the same topic and watches him walk out of the bedroom and down the hallway.

It isn't surprising just a few minutes later when he comes in with a sleepy Sawyer in his arms and lays down with the little girl on his chest. She lifts her head, checking her surroundings for a moment and sets her sights on Peyton nearly instantly, "Mama."

Peyton smiles and reaches out to take the baby off Lucas, hugging her close. "When did she start that?"

"Earlier, when I got her, she said it, but I thought that she was just wanting that person to come and comfort her. But this time she knew it was me…"

"Well that's totally unfair!" he says, playing it out like he is hurt at the fact that she was being called mom before he was dad.

"Hey, who carried her for nine months?" Peyton says back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You guys are so lucky that you can always throw that in our faces…" he says, laughing while letting Sawyer curl her hand around his large fingers.

After a while, the baby fell asleep and they moved her between them, figuring that if she woke up again, she would at least be with them. That was the last time she woke up that evening, and as they would come to find out, it was the last time for a while that she would wake up in the middle of the night.

When Larry Sawyer got up that morning, early as usual, he figured that he should get on his way and leave them to getting into their routines without someone around. He didn't want Peyton to worry, so he snuck into her bedroom, which brought an instant smile to his face.

Sawyer had woken up and decided that Peyton and Lucas shouldn't be sleeping any more, so all he could here was the babbling of the little girl with an occasional "Mama" thrown in. Glancing in at the new family, he could see the happiness on his daughter's eyes and the joy in the eyes of his soon to be son in law. He knew then that they were going to be okay in the end.

"Peyton?" he says, not wanting to interrupt their time, but wanting to make sure he said goodbye.

She looks up at him smiling, "Hey, dad… we didn't wake you up did we?"

"Curse of a sailor, honey. I'm up at the first light. But I was going to head out, so I wanted to make sure that you didn't think I totally ran out on you guys again."

"Well if you're leaving then you should probably get to say goodbye to your granddaughter." She says, picking Sawyer up and crossing to stand in front of her father.

He takes the girl in his arms and she regards him with a look of confusion, which he matches, causing her to smile. "Well hello there Sawyer! I'm your grandpa Larry."

Sawyer found this funny, which in turn made the adults grin in amusement as well.

Larry left, and then with Brooke's arrival looming over their heads, Peyton was a bit on edge. Sawyer was an absolute angel, and except for a few nights of restlessness, she fit into their lives almost seamlessly. Karen told Peyton that she was a natural, and that she and Lucas were just meant to be parents. While Peyton still didn't completely have confidence in her abilities, she appreciated the sentiment.

That Saturday, Brooke was flying in sometime in the afternoon, so they figured it would be during Sawyer's nap time, which was a great time to talk.

However, Brooke Davis was never one to have an expected entrance, so when she walked through the door that morning as Haley and Peyton were crawling around the floor with Sawyer and Jamie, the two weren't completely shocked.

The shock came when Brooke picked up the little girl in one swoop, sat down with her on the couch and said that she needed some time to bond with her Goddaughter.

"What?" Peyton says, not registering anything that happened in the few minutes that Brooke had been in the house.

"Well I assume that since she's your kid and I'm your best friend, that I get godmother rights. I mean, Haley is the real Aunt, so I should get something." Brooke says with a shrug of her shoulders, tickling the little girl for a laugh.

"So Lucas told you?"

"Lucas didn't tell me anything. He said that you guys had something to tell me, and I figured that it had something to do with the baby, so… here I am."

"Wait, you told Brooke, but you didn't tell me?" Haley says, turning to Peyton with a hurt look on her face.

"I didn't tell Brooke anything." Peyton says, still totally confused.

"She didn't." Brooke confirms and is met with two very pointed glances communicating to her that she needed to explain herself. "Graduation day. That family that came by to see you. I have been your best friend for years and I never knew of them, which I would have if they were so in tight with your dad and you. Then when he said that she was adopted, you had this look on your face, you and Luke, so I figured that she had to have been yours. At least I suspected in the moment, but then suddenly everything made all the sense in the world from the year before. Junior year with Lucas being all papa bear protective of you, the flowy shirts that you thought were in season, freaking out when you found out Haley was pregnant senior year… and you and Lucas."

"What about me and Lucas."

"You guys were all mushy gushy Junior year. But it was cutesy high school stuff. And then we came back from the summer and it was like the two of you had been married for years. You weren't mushy gushy in a stupid way like most high schoolers were, you guys just fit together. It just all made sense, and I figured that it would all come out eventually."

"B. Davis, you never cease to amaze me."

"Hey, this bod may make me look like a ditz, but the brain is always working. Especially with juicy stuff like teen pregnancy and love triangles."

Peyton scrunches her nose then, a bit worried, "Are you mad?"

She sighs while watching Sawyer play with the bracelets on her left arm before answering, "I was once I figured it out, and then I realized that it wasn't something that you wanted everyone to know about. I knew that in time it would come out if it needed to. Like now, apparently."

"Yeah…" Peyton says with a clouded look on her features.

"What happened?"

"They died in a car accident, but they had it written that if anything were to happen to them, that she should be with us."

Brooke nods, searching her best friend's eyes for a reaction to the words she just spoke, "and that is the most wonderful and most frightening thing that could have happened?"

Peyton nods before Haley puts a hand on her shoulder and Brooke fills Peyton in on the meaning behind the gesture, "You don't have to be scared P. Sawyer. You and Luke are not alone in any of this because Haley and Nathan, and I are going to be there for you guys. Every step of the way if we have to be."

She looks from her best friend, down to her daughter, and then over to Haley, "I know…"

And so it began…

--

Okay, this was a short chapter, but I wanted to bring Brooke in and I also wanted to clear up the Larry stuff. Hopefully you enjoyed it… Now the last chapter will be an epilogue, nice and short, so there you have it!!!

Read and Review!!


	8. Epilogue

After Sawyer came back into their lives, they slipped into a small, quiet life. Living with Haley and Nathan was a blessing that they cherished because they got to have the family that none of them had before except Haley. Lucas made it through with a Lit degree and Peyton with just a Business degree, opting for the safer bet and just one major while toting a small infant around.

The summer between their Junior and Senior years at Gilmore, Lucas and Peyton got married, earlier than they said they would, but too late by their own standards. White flowers, a beautiful four year old flower girl in their daughter Sawyer, and words that showed how much they cared for each other.

Years later, you wouldn't even know the amount of heartache and drama the couple had suffered.

"Sawyer, you've got to get going… especially if you are going to drop your sister off like you promised her you would."

"Mom, I'm moving as fast as I can! I promise that my dorm is still going to be there when I get there."

"I understand that, but you still need to hurry up." Peyton says, washing some dishes in the sink while arguing with her nineteen year old daughter up the stairs.

"Seriously…" a little boy, nearly eight says, stomping into the kitchen.

Peyton just wraps her arms around him giving him a kiss on the top of his head, and then reaching for a bowl and the cereal for him. "Have breakfast."

"You guys are so loud! I don't want breakfast, I want sleep." He says, ignoring the bowl and placing his head on the table instead.

"I would have woken you up to say goodbye to your sister anyways, Aaron, so there will be no complaining at my breakfast table. Besides, your dad was up earlier than all of us, so you shouldn't be complaining."

"Only because Uncle Nathan makes him go play basketball in the morning on Saturdays. Otherwise, I bet he'd still be in bed." He says, to which Peyton says nothing, knowing that the young boy was right, and the exact temperament of herself at that age.

"Okay, is she coming down anytime soon, because I'm going to be late for practice if she doesn't." Anna says, running down the stairs.

"I told her, and if she's not ready in the next 5 MINUTES" she says, yelling the last part up the stairs, "I will drive you to basketball practice."

The middle Scott shrugs her shoulders before plopping down next to her brother, "Dude, what's wrong with you?"

"Mom and Sawyer woke me up." He says, not moving from his spot with his head resting on the table.

"Tough on you my friend."

"I blame it on you anyways…"

"How am I to blame? I'm not the one yelling."

"Okay, then I blame dad." He says, sitting up finally and looking between his mom and his sister.

"Your dad isn't even here…" Peyton says to her son.

"Yeah, but it's dad's genes that made Anna a basketball star, which means that she has to get up early on Saturdays, which means that Sawyer was going to offer to take her this morning, which because of mom's genes means that she's going to be late, which then results in the screaming, which means that I wake up."

"Seriously?"

"Yup, I blame dad."

"Well, you got that from me." Peyton says, smiling at her frowning son as she leans against the sink.

Just in time to say goodbye to their eldest daughter, Lucas came through the door, sweaty and carrying a basketball.

"How was your game?" Peyton asks, kissing him as he reaches past her to grab a glass of water.

"It was great actually. I'm glad that Nathan is in town more often." He says, then turning to his middle daughter, "Which reminds me… why are you not on your way to basketball practice?"

"Because I'm waiting for my SISTER!" she says yelling up the stairs.

Then Sawyer Scott came down the stairs, bags in both hands as she moves to hug her brother before moving to her mother and father. And yes… Sawyer Scott, no longer Baley. Just a year after they got her back, she officially became theirs for good, with Social Services approving of them taking her back into custody. And just a year after they got married, they changed her name to Scott.

When she was older, the question eventually came out about why her younger sister had so many more baby pictures than her, and who were those people holding her as a baby when she knew that they weren't Grandma or Grandpa. As much as they could, they explained it to the twelve year old, who then became even more confused considering they just brought home a brand new baby brother. Many months after it came out, the young girl decided that she wanted to spend some time away from home, asking her parents to ship her off to Grandma Karen's for a week or so. Considering she lived just a few minutes away, they were perfectly content on letting her do that.

Karen was the one to explain it to Sawyer in a way that she understood, making her realize that her parents giving her up was probably one of the best things they had ever done. Two days later, she came back home and she asked all the questions she could to understand what happened and be okay with it.

Even during that time, they couldn't have asked for a better child. She grew up, graduated high school with honors just like both her parents, and got into UNC for school. However the fact that she was majoring in Journalism was still something that Peyton razzed her for. Her daughter also got her musical love, singing and playing the piano like no one she'd heard. Peyton told her that the mother daughter duo could be the next best thing. Sawyer could sing and record and Peyton could produce her albums. Sawyer just smiled at her mother and turned to asker her father about his undergraduate Lit classes.

Nevertheless, they were proud of their daughter and of the choices that they had made long ago. Maybe they would have been okay back then. Maybe they could have kept her and all would have been well. But they always think of that year and a half that she wasn't with them and how it could have changed drastically if she had been, for the better or worse. Maybe they wouldn't have gotten into Gilmore and lived with Nathan and Haley. Maybe they would have gotten married earlier or later. Maybe they never would have had Anna or Aaron. But they did and their lives have been the best that they could have been, all because of the choice they made.

--

Okay, so that is the end… yay for me actually promising to finish a fic and actually finishing it!! Good job me… Now, I hope that you liked it. I thought that it would be something to get everyone through this Leyton fanfic dryspell… I mean seriously people. I NEED my fanfic. I can't read my own, I mean I could, but that would be weird. And I can only read and reread fanfics from smc-27 (my favorite author, if you haven't checked her out you should) so many times (actually I could probably continue to do that…). But COME ON!!!

Read and review… and when you're done… write some Leyton fanfic… PLEASE!!!


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